ZER0
by emication
Summary: The Gundam pilots are working for Preventers when a seriel killer starts harassing Earth and the colonies.
1. Pride

Title: ZER0 - Part 1 - Pride  
Author: Vinyl Koneko (Emily), roguegirl@att.net  
Rating: R  
Warnings: none in this part  
Archive: Want it? Take it. Just give me credit, please.  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I just like to play with them and make them play with each other.  
Comments: *Emphasis*, 'thought', [flashback], /written/. Pride is the First Deadly Sin and is defined as an excessively high opinion of oneself. Kinda-sorta based on the movie SE7EN, but not really. All my knowledge on explosives came from reading "Fight Club" by Chuck Palahniuk.  
  
*~**~*  
  
/There doesn't seem to be any other way to start this. I'm afraid of running out of time. We might have so little of it as it is, so I better hurry.  
  
It wasn't our wills that brought us here. This trivial fact we know now, but it seems that maybe it was a greater destiny. We are, afterall, the best there is, and it was because of this that we became so involved.  
  
Our pride had been getting the better of us, and that seems to be what the killer wanted.  
  
And now we've become targets.  
  
I'm sorry to anyone who got involved. I won't avoid responsibility; the trail it weaves ultimately leads back to me. I knew the pattern, still know that I know, but I can't put my finger on it. Everything seemed so damn familiar and the others seem to be counting on me to end the horrors, but I just can't place it.  
  
And now we're locked in Preventers HQ, just the five of us and the killer, playing a sort of cat-and-mouse game. But we are both the hunter and the hunted.  
  
Our only advantage is the strength in numbers, but that also makes us an easier target. The killer isn't armed with any explosives, as far as we can tell, but you can make a bomb out of anything. Gasoline, nail polish remover, lye, orange juice... That'd be a nice way to die, wouldn't it? I can see it in the obituaries now. FORMER GUNDAM PILOTS KILLED BY ORANGE JUICE written in that big, obnoxious type newspaper headers always seems to be written in. Yeah, anyway, back on track...  
  
He definitely has guns. And knives. And a dart shooter. And I think he hacked into HQ's system computers because it seems to be getting awfully warm in here for early April. Unless that's the global warming kicking in.  
  
There hasn't been any proof of the killer's existence in a couple hours now. We're all getting restless. Heero and Quatre are out checking the perimeter for anything new. We get little notes written in blood every now and then, but it always seems to be the blood from one of the previous kills. We're hoping he runs out of his "trophy" blood so he resorts to his own and we can run a DNA scan and see if the guy's been booked before, but so far we haven't even been that lucky.  
  
Wufei's in his meditative mode. It's aggravating, really. He looks like he's sleeping and alert at the same time, and if you listen real close, you can tell that his breathing has slowed and most likely his heartbeat as well. I don't know how he can sit still like that for hours; I always need to be moving.  
  
Trowa's gotten to the point where he's throwing pencils at the ceiling and trying to get them to stick into the little tiny holes in the tiling. Toss. Bounce. Drop. Toss. Thud. Stick. Drop. Toss. Bounce. Catch. Toss. Drop. Toss. Thud. Stick. It's almost hypnotic except when the pencil glances of the tile frames and goes shooting off towards your eye; you have to duck or your eyeball becomes shish-ka-bobbed on a pencil out for blood.  
  
Compared to a pencil, maybe the orange juice doesn't seem so bad.  
  
The only reason we're stuck in here is because of our pride. If we hadn't gotten so damn cocky, I'm sure I'd be sitting in my office playing Solitaire until the forensics team gave me new leads to sort through. I can see it now. Leaning back in my chair, feet resting on the desk because Une isn't looking, sipping a second-rate mocha latte because it's from a Dunkin Donuts instead of the Starbucks on the other end of the block, and playing Solitaire on the computer with the card deck that has an image of the coastline because I'd rather be there than sitting in the office I have to share with Heero, Mr. Gets-His-Work-In-On-Time-If-Not-Earlier, because there's a lack of space in the building.  
  
Maybe I should start at the beginning. It all started three months ago.../  
  
*~**~*  
  
End Part 1 


	2. Envy

Title: ZER0 - Part 2 - Envy  
Author: Vinyl Koneko (Emily), roguegirl@att.net  
Rating: R  
Warnings: language, angst, death, blood, gruesome stuff  
Archive: Want it? Take it. Just give me credit, please.  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I just like to play with them and make them play with each other.   
Comments: *Emphasis*, 'thought', [flashback], /written/. Envy is the Second Deadly Sin and is defined as the desire for the possessions or qualities of another. Kinda-sorta based on the movie SE7EN, but not really.  
  
*~**~*  
  
January 10, 201 AC  
  
*~**~*  
  
Another dull day at Preventers. Duo had felt that he had evolved beyond resorting to Solitaire to pass the time.  
  
ShiNiGAMi201: Hi. My name is Duo.  
SmarterChild: Hmmm... I don't think Duo is a real name.  
ShiNiGAMi201: Yes it is!  
SmarterChild: Ya got that right.  
ShiNiGAMi201: Well then my name is Duo and it is a real name.  
SmarterChild: Well then my name is duo and it is a real name, you say?  
ShiNiGAMi201: Yes...  
SmarterChild: Huh.  
ShiNiGAMi201: Just call me Duo.  
SmarterChild: Hmmm... I don't think Duo is a real name.  
ShiNiGAMi201: You know you're wandering in circles, right?  
SmarterChild: For real?  
ShiNiGAMi201: Real.  
SmarterChild: Real? What do you mean by that?  
ShiNiGAMi201: What the hell does that have to do with the price of cheese?  
SmarterChild: What the hell does that have to do with the price of cheese?  
ShiNiGAMi201: Why are you repeating me?  
SmarterChild: Hmm... I don't know!  
  
A sudden lack of typing from his officemate's keyboard caught Duo's attention. He looked up in time to see Prussian blue eyes narrowed in his direction. The braided American sat up in his seat, pretending he was doing something important, and reminisced of the days when there wasn't a grunge for space at the main Preventers HQ and he had his own office with no Heero Yuy glaring at him everytime he wasn't doing an assignment.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Talking to SmarterChild on AIM. You should try it sometime...I heard the conversations can be funny as hell..."  
  
ShiNiGAMi201: I have this friend...his name is Heero...  
SmarterChild: That right?  
ShiNiGAMi201: Yeah. He's a real stick-in-the-mud sometimes, if you know what I mean.  
SmarterChild: Excuse me?  
ShiNiGAMi201: Heero. He's a stick-in-the-mud.  
SmarterChild: I'm sorry, I don't know what you're saying. Try again.  
ShiNiGAMi201: I thought you were supposed to be smart.  
SmarterChild: You thought me were supposed to be smart? Really?  
ShiNiGAMi201: Ah forget it.  
SmarterChild: OK.  
ShiNiGAMi201: Anyway. My friend Heero is supremely anal retentive.  
SmarterChild: My, my, my.  
ShiNiGAMi201: No kidding, eh? He thinks I should be working all the time. I think he runs on a battery or something.  
SmarterChild: Yeah?  
ShiNiGAMi201: Yup.  
SmarterChild: That right?  
ShiNiGAMi201: Are you paying any attention?  
SmarterChild: It's tough to say.  
ShiNiGAMi201: Gee, I love you too.  
SmarterChild: I love you, you know that...  
  
Duo's eyes widened and it was an effort to contain the laughter. "I think a machine is hitting on me..."  
  
"Nani?" Heero's typing had stopped again.   
  
'I *definitely* did not distract him that time...' "SmarterChild just told me he loves me."  
  
"Hn, baka. Get back to work."  
  
Duo slowly got out of his chair to stretch, signing off Instant Messanger, hearing his shoulders pop and rubbing the tensed muscles. "You know, Heero, this isn't *work* this is *labor*. Why are they making us write reports to missions we weren't even sent out to do? I mean, I'm here as an active field agent, not the green agents' secretary!"  
  
"Missions are given to best utilize strengths and weaknesses of the agent. When the right mission comes along, you'll have a field assignment."  
  
Deathscythe's former pilot couldn't help but glare at Heero and his damned logic. It still didn't make it fair. Wufei was out checking illegal arms traffic in Southeast Asia while they were stuck in headquarters.  
  
There was a light rap on the door followed by Trowa entering the already-crowded space; his green eyes were as solemn as ever. "We have an assignment."  
  
*~**~*  
  
'Well if Trowa doesn't want to tell us about it, I'll just have to find out when we get there.' Duo leaned back into the cloth upholstery of the Preventers issue Blazer, painted the same drab green as on the issued jackets with the logo painted on the hood and in the middle of each flank. It was one ugly vehicle, but a smooth ride nonetheless.  
  
"Victim's name is Evan Gail. He was found by his mother several hours ago, but she thought he was sleeping until she made a 911 call an hour ago which was, in turn, got sent to Preventers. EMTs supposedly didn't need to touch him to know he was dead, so the crime scene should be relatively untouched. We have people there already securing things and asking around the neighborhood." They pulled into a driveway in what appeared to be the typical middle-class suburbia. The house itself was a colonial, probably built in the late twentieth century, and had a chainlink fence running around it with several small dogs running the length as close to the Blazer as they could get.  
  
They parked next to the minivan, flashing badges at the agents guarding the door. 'Has to be a murder; nothing else would require so much, but why are so many people here? The local police are supposed to take care of this; we only get the cases of the higher ups or those that would be a threat to peace.'  
  
Duo wasn't prepared for the murder scene, and the second he stepped into the room with the body he had to back immediately out to catch himself. Heero paused as well, eyes widening slightly at the scene, but Trowa had been there before and knew what to expect. The Latin man excused himself momentarily, returning outside to the agents standing guard.  
  
"H-He's just a boy!"  
  
"He was twelve-years-old," came Trowa's voice through the doorway.  
  
Duo collected himself, slipping on a cool exterior for the moment. He still needed to look professional. Afterall, he grew up with death, and eventually as Death. 'You're here to do your job. You can't help the kid without seeing what happened to him and convicting the guilty.' Duo silently made his way into the bedroom, standing behind Heero who was paying attention to a medical examiner.  
  
The only clue that Evan Gail was dead was his face. His eyes were open and glassy, permanently held in an expression of pure terror, and the lower half of his mouth was black. It looked like he had been burned, but as the medical examiner was pointing out, the burning seemed to continue down the boy's throat and was only located in and around the mouth.  
  
Duo looked around for anything that could hint at a struggle or even an object that could have been the cause of such odd burns. The room was done in different hues of green, and the walls were adorned with images of sports celebrities, mostly athletes from baseball and soccer teams. One the dresser were several trophies and ribbons of various placings, and leaning against the wall in one corner stood a tuba that looked freshly polished.  
  
"Why would anyone kill a kid?" Duo voiced his question outloud.  
  
"The mother should be the prime suspect. No one else seems to have access to the house," Heero replied simply, scouring the room more efficiently than a fine-toothed comb.  
  
"No, that's doesn't seem right. I was a thief, and just from looking at the outside of the house I could see how easy this one would be to break into unnoticed."  
  
Heero paused for a moment. "The injuries are too deliberate to just be a thief."  
  
Duo continued his rotation of the room, slowly opening the closet door should anything fall out or attack him. Nothing seemed out of place, but when he went to close the door again, images caught his eye.  
  
The entire inside of the door was covered with images of the Gundams as well as any articles that were released during or after the war about them or their pilots. The collection had various OZ distributed wanted posters as well as in-battle photographs. Fresh red spray paint was dripping down the door.  
  
"Heero?"  
  
"Hn?"  
  
"Take a look at this..."  
  
/CAtCh ME if YOU CAN/  
  
*~**~*  
  
End Part 2 


	3. Wrath

Title: ZER0 - Part 3 - Wrath  
Author: Vinyl Koneko (Emily), roguegirl@att.net  
Rating: R  
Warnings: language, angst, death, blood, gruesome stuff  
Archive: Want it? Take it. Just give me credit, please.  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I just like to play with them and make them play with each other.   
Comments: *Emphasis*, 'thought', [flashback], /written/. Wrath is the Third Deadly Sin and is defined as a forceful, often vindictive, anger. I'm assuming Preventers HQ is in New York, NY because in EW it was in a tall building surrounded by other skyscrapers, it was snowing towards the end of December, and there were Christmas things all over the place. I know other countries celebrate Christmas and such, but this makes it easier for me. 'K? ^_^ On with the fic.  
  
*~**~*  
  
January 12, 201 AC  
  
*~**~*  
  
It had taken two days to get a forensics team in and out. Two days for the mother to be cleared as a suspect, and two days in which the killer had to get as far away from New York as possible. Duo was getting antsy. A twelve-year-old boy was dead, the former-Gundam pilots were involved somehow, and whoever they were dealing with knew what he or she was doing. The hair that the forensics team pulled from the carpet was actually from one of the dogs, but they did find out how Evan Gail was killed. The medical examiner said there were remote traces of alcohol in the boy's stomach, so you add that together with the severe burns around his mouth and down his throat, you realize that the killer's an extremely sick individual.  
  
"...Earlier today, a public mass was held for Evan Gail, who was mysteriously murdered in his own bedroom two days prior. Friends, teachers, and other members of the community were said to have joined in prayer for Evan Gail, and a hope for swift justice on behalf of his killer..."  
  
Duo switched off the radio. He didn't need to hear anymore of the fables the news had come up with. Preventers wasn't giving them any information and had forbid Evan Gail's mother from leaking any, as well, lest she should draw attention to herself and become a target.   
  
"Do you think those images were planted?" the violet-eyed American asked when Trowa entered the break room.  
  
The Latin man shook his head. "There was enough dust coating on them to suggest that they had been there for a substantial amount of time."  
  
"But the kid was only six-years-old during the war. He wouldn't even have understood what was going on," Duo sighed, grabbing a coffee and slumping into a nearby chair. "Six-year-olds are supposed to be watching cartoons and oversized puppets, not keeping track of attempts to overthrow OZ!"  
  
Trowa shrugged in response. "Hero worship, maybe. Besides, what were *you* doing at that age?"  
  
All of Duo's planned counterattacks were wiped out before they had a chance.  
  
*~**~*  
  
January 17, 201 AC  
  
*~**~*  
  
Duo bounded up the last three flights of stairs, taking three at a time in each stride. He had slept in and was an hour late. He missed the bus, had to call a cab; cab drivers always seem to take the longest route possible in order to get a higher charge. His particular cabbie seemed to have a hearing problem, which Duo only found out about when he ended up at a local Birth Prevention Clinic instead of Preventers Headquarters, but by the time he noticed the cab driver had taken the money and left. Duo had to call another cab which took ten minutes to pick him up and bring him to the correct building.  
  
And then the elevators were closed for repair.  
  
'Please don't let anyone notice. Please don't let anyone notice. Please don't let anyone notice...' repeated like a mantra in the American's head as he carefully slipped out of the stairwell and dashed down the hall into his office, closing the door behind him and letting out a relieved sigh as he slid down the door.  
  
"Where've you been?" came Heero's irritated monotone.  
  
"I learned about the sense of humor instilled in New York cab drivers. Why, you miss me?" Duo put on a broad grin as he asked the question, internally praying that he wasn't going to be killed by the Japanese man.  
  
Heero didn't even blink in response. "There's been another hit." Duo reflexively caught a manila file that was tossed in his direction on the floor. "It was an agent this time. Found dead in his office this morning by the cleaning crew."  
  
"Paul Lucas, 31, killed instantaneously by a bullet between the eyes." Duo shivered involuntarily. "Seems a little not creative compared to the last kill, doesn't it? And how the *hell* does a serial killer get into HQ in the first place!"  
  
"Wufei's with Trowa in Lucas' office now. We have to search his apartment."  
  
"Goodie," Duo replied bitterly. "Wu-man's joining us now, huh? All we need is Quatre and the whole gangs back together!"  
  
"Give the killer another week and that just might be the case."  
  
*~**~*  
  
The apartment of Paul Lucas was located on the fifteenth floor of an eighteen story apartment complex in lower Manhatten. Lucas's room, number 1503, was a simple studio apartment, only containing furniture and items that the habitant was sure to use. A laptop was plugged in on a table at one wall, still on, and next to it was a humble book collection that included an English dictionary and multiple volumes for other languages.  
  
"Looks like Agent Lucas travelled a lot," Duo voiced. "The apartment is low budget, and there isn't a lot of personal touches to show that he uses it a lot. There's a laptop instead of a monitor-CPU unit, and his books are mostly translating dictionaries." He whirled around at the familiar sound of clacking. Heero was already hacking his way through the laptop. "Neh, Heero? Do you think Lucas left that on accidentally or the killer wanted us to find something?"  
  
"Maybe it'll self-detonate if fed the wrong password," Heero replied with a slight smirk.  
  
Duo's expression turned disbelieving. "Why do I have the feeling that yours does?" Duo dropped to his knees and peered under the bed. "Shit, there isn't even a sock under here!" He heard a beep and looked back over in Heero's direction. "You're in already?"  
  
Prussian blue eyes were searching through files as he nodded an affirmative. "He used Windows; what do you expect?"  
  
Duo smiled in response, catching a ribbon of light out of the corner of his eye. There was a thin line coming out through the wall, and on further inspection, one part of the rear wall actually looked slightly newer than the rest of the room. 'We hide our skeletons in the closet,' Duo thought, rapping lightly on the wall. It was definitely hollow, and the space behind sounded quite large. Duo looked around the room for some way to smash open the wall but couldn't seem to find anything that could serve as a battering ram, so he had to work with what was available.  
  
The braided man grabbed a pencil, marking where he had hit the wall so if there was in fact nothing there, he was certain that he wouldn't hit a stud and break a few bones. He wrapped a sheet around his right hand, and hit the X on the wall. Sure enough, his fist went right through and more light streamed in through the hole he had created.  
  
"Duo...what are you doing?"  
  
"Not sure. I'll let you know in a minute." Duo tore away at the crumbling wall until he was able to fit through his instant doorway. The room was dusty but bright due to the sunlight entering through a round, glass panel near the ceiling.  
  
A plastic mannequin was hanging by a noose in the corner, dressed up in a red OZ uniform, a wig, and makeup. More of the familiar, red, dripping spray paint was traveling down the mannequin's face.  
  
/tRAitOR/  
  
"Hey, Heero?"  
  
"Chotto matte kudasai. I found something."  
  
"Yeah, I did too." The room wasn't that big; the ceiling was a perfect cube, height feet tall, wide, and long. Behind the hung Lady Une mannquin were several little boxes with numbers on them. They looked like coffins.  
  
/01 02 03 04 05/  
  
After convincing himself that the little coffins wouldn't blow up if he tried to open them, Duo grabbed the closest on, which happened to be the last numerically, and opened it carefully. Inside was a clay figure with exaggerated slanted eyes and a black ponytail. Pins were sticking out of various places of the clay figure's anatomy, and red smears were painted on in some locations. It didn't take the supreme knowledge of the universe for Duo to figure out what the clay people with the coffins were and who they represented.  
  
Growing up on the streets of L2, Duo had seen everything from the horrid to the just plain strange; one woman made voodoo dolls on the street to earn money. She said all that was necessary was a hair from the subject and the connection between doll and person could be made.  
  
Duo wondered if each of their actually hairs really were inside the dolls, but quickly set the idea aside as a scam. He hadn't had any unexplained pain the the last couple of years, and based on the areas of the Wufei-doll the pins were stuck in, the Chinese man would have had problems with the more sensitive area of the male anatomy if they really worked.  
  
Duo put the doll back where he had found it. Objects weren't supposed to be tampered with, and Duo couldn't tell if these...things would be needed or not, so it was best to just leave them alone. He went back into the main room to see what Heero had found.  
  
"Some pretty odd shit in there, Heero. Voodoo dolls of the five of us in coffins and a mannequin with a strange resemblance to Lady Une hanging by her neck in the corner. What'd you find?"  
  
"Paul Lucas was a former OZ official. There are dormant bombs in his refridgerator wrapped in tin foil and freezer bags. According to this log on the computer, he was supposed to blow up Headquarters this afternoon around 1430." Heero looked at his watch. "If it wasn't for our serial killer, the bombs would have just gone off."  
  
"But he wanted to knock off us pilots and Lady Une. Wufei's assignment just got changed and Quatre isn't even on the planet," Duo's eyes narrowed as he read the computer log. 'There's no way Lucas could've anticipated us all to be at HQ today...' "What was he going to do? Transport us all to the same location with his mind?"  
  
Heero closed the laptop and took out his cel phone, presumably to call Trowa about the discoveries. "Maybe. How else would we explain Wufei getting assigned to this case and Quatre's unannounced arrival right after we left?"  
  
*~**~*  
  
End Part 3 


	4. Sloth

Title: ZER0 - Part 4 - Sloth  
Author: Vinyl Koneko (Emily), roguegirl@att.net  
Rating: R  
Warnings: language, angst, death, blood, gruesome stuff  
Archive: Want it? Take it. Just give me credit, please.  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I just like to play with them and make them play with each other.   
Comments: *Emphasis*, 'thought', [flashback], /written/. Sloth is the Fourth Deadly Sin and is defined as an aversion to work or exertion. Bonus points to anyone who can tell me where those lyrics came from. I'll give you a hint: The first one and the third to last aren't lyrics, but the rest are.  
  
*~**~*  
  
January 17, 201 AC (cont'd)  
  
*~**~*  
  
'I don't *believe* this. No way. Heero's pulling my leg... Maybe he really *is* developing a sense of humor, but this is way past funny.' Duo glanced over at his partner, watching him drive for a moment. It had started snowing right as they left, and Heero had refused to let Duo behind the wheel, claiming that he didn't want to end up dead in a ditch because Duo was doing 90 miles per hour[1] on a sheet of black ice. 'He's just so tense and waaaay too focused. He doesn't even turn on the radio, and I bet if someone called on his cel, he'd make *me* answer it.' Duo looked back at the snow. It wasn't sticking to the road yet, so the flakes looked like they were going through the pavement instead of melting on impact.  
  
Duo slouched a little in his seat, mentally reviewing the two targets, trying to find a pattern. 'Evan Gail, 12-years-old, collected anything on the Gundams he could find; Paul Lucas, 31-years-old, wanted Lady Une and us *former*-pilots dead. Suspects seem to have nothing in common except for the Gundams...'  
  
["Hero worship, maybe..."]  
  
["...he was supposed to blow up Headquarters this afternoon around 1430."]  
  
'Damn it...I know there's *something*, but I just can't put my finger on it.'  
  
*~**~*  
  
"Quatre! Picked one heck of a time for a visit!" Duo laughed, sharing an enthusiastic hug with his blond friend. "You gonna stick around and help us solve this thing?"  
  
The Arab smiled warmly in reponse. "Whatever I could do to help. My sisters kicked me out. They claim I've been working too hard and need a vacation."  
  
"You? Working too hard? I think they've got you confused with someone else!" Duo chided sarcastically. "I don't know if this will be much of a *vacation*, but you won't be stuck with papers and meetings all day."  
  
"I'll try my best to help. From what I've heard so far, you're going to need all the help you can get."  
  
*~**~*  
  
All the former-pilots were gathered in a briefing room going over the information. The forensics team had just returned with photographs from Lucas' apartment and were going over chemical analysis of the items found within, especially the alleged explosives in the refridgerator. Wufei was going over everything they had gathered so far, reviewing it like a puzzle and trying to find out how and where the pieces fit together.  
  
"First victim..." the Chinese man pulled an envelope out of a file and put it on the table. Within was data on the victim as well as any notes and images from the scene of the crime, including anything the medical examiner or the forensics team managed to dig up. A disc recording of the mother's interrogation was sitting at the bottom of the envelope, but her alibi checked out and it was only included to make sure nothing had been left out. "Evan Gail, 12-years-old, was supposed to complete his 6th-grade-year at the local middle school in June. He was home alone at the time of his death. His mother was at work, and his father was killed in a terrorist bombing roughly nine years prior. The family had five Cocker Spaniels that were used as show dogs who were the only other beings that we can actually tell were in the house at the time.  
  
"According to the medical examiner's report, Gail was killed after he was forced, based by the bruising on his jaw, to drink ethanol before the killer burned his throat. There was a bottle of nail polish remover next to his bed, and we had to presume that the killer used that, but there were no fingerprints, so he had to be wearing gloves.  
  
"The neighbors saw no suspicious behavior in or around the house that night, so there are no witnesses. Whoever got in was undetected, even to the dogs, so it's safe to assume that it's someone the family knew, but it's still likely that the killer didn't know the boy or his family."  
  
"Was anything planted or taken?" Quatre asked. "Besides the addition of the...graffiti in the closet, of course."  
  
Trowa shook his head. "There weren't even indentions in the carpet due to footsteps. An intruder's step would press firmer in the carpeting because he or she would be more cautious and pause every few steps, but nothing abnormal was picked up."  
  
Duo snorted. "Even any hairs that were picked up were from the dogs."  
  
"What about the last victim?" Quatre asked as he looked over the pictures from the first murder, wincing at the collage of Gundam images that seemed to lead to the brutal murder of a 12-year-old boy.  
  
"Paul Lucas, Preventers employee, 31-years-old, died of a bullet between the eyes," Heero pulled out the other envelope, adding to it the images of the hung Lady Une mannequin and the voodoo dolls and the lab analysis of what turned out to be C-4 sitting in Lucas' refridgerator.  
  
"Poor janitor that found him is going to have the clean the guys brains off the wall," Duo commented wryly.  
  
"Lucas was ex-OZ and seemed a little upset that they didn't win the war, to the point where he had resorted to Black Magic, demo the C-4 seems to be proof that he didn't think it was working..."  
  
"Unless Wufei's been impotent lately," Duo interrupted with a michievous grin and a wink.  
  
"Maxwell!" Wufei roared. "Ancient witchcraft has no fundamental, scientific proof of it working, and even *you* should know that!" Duo had to stifle his laughter. Wufei's complexion tended to turn crimson when he got angry, and it humored the other man to no end.  
  
Heero cleared his throat. "The only pattern so far is that there's a week between kills, so the next one should be the twenty-fourth. Unfortunately, another pattern can't be established until there are more victims; only then can we figure out a target radius. There isn't much we can do otherwise."  
  
*~**~*  
  
January 23, 201 AC  
  
*~**~*  
  
"I don't like this, Duo. Someone's going to die tomorrow and there's nothing we can do about it." Duo and Quatre were sitting at a table in a Starbucks down the street from HQ, Duo with a simple mocha latte and Quatre sipping a triple-shot espresso[2].  
  
"There isn't anything we can do about it; even Heero realized that. Normally a seriel killer would be giving more clues as he went along; he would want to see how many kills he could get in before getting caught, but we aren't getting anything besides the occasional graffiti. For a moment, I thought Lucas was our killer and he commited suicide, but there was no weapon and the writing in the boy's room was different from that in Lucas's apartment."  
  
"I still don't like the feeling of being blindfolded and dragged around at the killer's will."  
  
"We'll come up with something. Heero's been going through every minute detail and digging into it even further. He'll call me in the middle of the night with a theory that I'll fall back asleep in the middle of." Duo blinked twice, noticing the grin on Quatre's face. "Wha~at?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Quatre!" Duo was trying to get his friend's blue-eyed gaze, but it wasn't working. "Fine. I'll get it out of you eventually."  
  
Quatre just sipped at his espresso and pretended to not be paying attention.  
  
*~**~*  
  
January 24, 201 AC  
  
*~**~*  
  
The seriel killer didn't stray off schedule, and this time it was on a grander scale. The public eye was caught more with this incident than with the past two. Evan Gail's death had been described as an unfortunate accident while Paul Lucas's got no media interference whatsoever.  
  
It was a homeless shelter, this time. The entire building went up in flames, and all seven volunteer workers and fifty-three occupants were killed. Duo had been late again that morning, so his "penalty" was not having to go to the crime scene. Wufei and Quatre went, the blond Arab managing to nab a camera from forensics to bring on-site and catch the damage before the building's skeleton got too weak to stand on its own.  
  
While Duo didn't see the actual scene, he saw the photographs Quatre took as soon as possible. The entire interior of the building was charcoal-black from the flames that had been licking up the walls in a flash-fire. The red spray pain was back, and it stood out from the black walls easily, and there was more of it this time.  
  
/hA hA hA hA hA/  
  
/thE ROOf, thE ROOf,   
thE ROOf iS ON fiRE,   
bUt WE dON't NEEd NO WAtER   
lEt thE MOthER-fUCkER bURN/  
  
/SEtS ME ON fiRE  
ShE SEtS ME ON fiRE  
SEtS ME ON fiRE - fiRE/  
  
/Shit AddS UP At thE bOttOM/  
  
And that was only one wall of the two-story complex. Each and every surface was covered in writing, some of them seemed lyrical while others were just contemptuous.  
  
/WE Will fiGht thE hEAthENS  
WE Will fiGht thE hEAthENS/  
  
/NA NA NA NA NA NA/  
  
/i'VE hAd ENOUGh Of thE WORld ANd  
it'S PEOPlE'S MINdlESS GAMES/  
  
/dRiVEN bY hAtE - CONSUMEd bY fEAR/  
  
"You know what?" Duo tossed the images to Heero. "I think we've been giving this guy too much credit... We're dealing with a fucking psycho, and this will keep going until we find him." He grabbed a push-pin and stuck in on the map where the homeless shelter once stood. "There's no pattern to anything! This time, it wasn't even related to us, and we have a week until someone else dies."  
  
"He's getting cocky," Heero said, tossing an individual photographs at Duo. One was a bottle of spray paint, and the other was a footprint. "We have something to work off of, now, but the fingerprint will only help us if the killer's been entered in the database before."  
  
Duo sighed. "I guess it won't hurt to hope."  
  
*~**~*  
  
End Part 4  
  
[1] They're in the States, so it's mph. It's likely that the American system of measurement could be changed by then, but moi, being American, felt a tad bit lazy to figure out how many kilometers per hour that would be. If anyone really wants to know, multiply 90 by 1.609 to get kilometers. ^_^  
[2] All that tea he drinks...that's probably how much caffeine he'd need in order to notice it. ::laughs:: I know some mornings I just want my coffee dripped directly into my veins. 


	5. Greed

Title: ZER0 - Part 5 - Greed  
Author: Vinyl Koneko (Emily), roguegirl@att.net  
Rating: R  
Warnings: language, angst, death, blood, gruesome stuff, now improved with a yaoi flavor!  
Archive: Want it? Take it. Just give me credit, please.  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I just like to play with them and make them play with each other.   
Comments: *Emphasis*, 'thought', [flashback], //lyrics//, /written/. Greed is the Fifth Deadly Sin and is defined as the excessive desire to possess more than what one deserves. This part is for Katu who had the balls to tell me that I needed more character interraction and development. I might not have improved in this part, but I know that there are upcoming parts that have gargantuan windows of opportunity. Thanks for the feedback! ^_~ Song is "Deer Dance" courtesy of System of a Down from the album Toxicity, BTW. That song totally got me through this part, so just accept it, okay?  
  
*~**~*  
  
January 25, 201 AC  
  
*~**~*  
  
"Fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK!" To say that Duo took the news well was a complete lie. "How the hell do you manage to nab a guy when he hasn't been booked before? Seriel killers don't just come out of the fucking woodwork! They normally start out small and lead *up* to seriel killings, not the other fucking way around!"  
  
"Duo?"  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
"Maybe you should calm down a little...before someone gets hurt," Quatre tried to suggest, but Duo was beyond listening in his rampage, ripping through photographs and reports as if a clue would magically appear.  
  
"Duo, yamete kudasai before you ruin the information on what little evidence we have..." Duo toned out the rest of whatever lecture Heero planned to give. 'Evan Gail...Paul Lucas...an entire homeless shelter and everyone who was in it at the time...'  
  
["Hero worship, maybe..."]  
  
["...he was supposed to blow up Headquarters this afternoon around 1430."]  
  
[/Shit AddS UP At thE bOttOM/]  
  
'Why can't we put the pieces together? There has to be some pattern...some reason these particular people were chosen...'  
  
["...Normally a seriel killer would be giving more clues as we went along; it would want to see how many kills it could get in before getting caught, but we aren't getting anything besides the occasional graffiti..."]  
  
"...you're not helping *anyone* by just standing around here and complaining!"  
  
Duo whirled around, violet eyes wide swirling with surprise and his braid whipping around angrily like an animal trying to be rid of its confining leash. "What?"  
  
"Duo..." Quatre interjected calmly, "Heero's right. You need to calm down and then you'll be able to think more clearly."  
  
"How am I supposed to calm down? We're supposed to be at *peace* right now. Peace! How many people have died so far? Tell me! How many people have died?"  
  
"Sixty-two," Heero supplied, "and more will follow if you don't keep your head on straight."  
  
[/dRiVEN bY hAtE - CONSUMEd bY fEAR/]  
  
Duo looked around desperately. 'They can't be this calm about it; not after all that they've been through; not after all we have fought so hard and risked so much to achieve...' Neither Quatre's level-headedness nor Heero's glaring intensity offered the sympathy Duo sought, so he spun on his heel and hurried out of the room, not catching the glance exchanged between his Arabic and Japanese friends.  
  
*~**~*  
  
Duo got to the vending machine in record time, digging fifty cents out of his pocket. If he couldn't physically destroy anything, crunching on a bag of chips seemed to be the best he could do before returning to his apartment. Of course, like all vending machines, this one has a twisted sense of humor and the bag of Barbecue Lays got stuck. This rewarded the machine several kicks to the plastic window, knocking around several items until the chips fell on the seventh kick[1]. Not noticing that his snack had fallen already and beyond the point of caring, Duo kept placing solid kicks on the plastic surface until it cracked and eventually shattered under the onslaught. The American caught movement out of the corner of his eye and saw a pale reflection in the remaining pieces of the window on the machine.  
  
"What is it, Heero?" he ground out through clenched teeth, still wishing there was something else to break in the general vicinity.  
  
"You seem upset."  
  
Duo snorted. "*That's* the understatement of the century."  
  
"You want to talk about it?" Duo opened his eyes, not even realizing he had closed them. Heero's voice seemed softer, and for the first time since before the seriel killings started, Heero seemed to be acting, well, human.  
  
Duo stood silent for a moment. 'He *is* offering to listen, and it will probably make me feel a hell of a lot better to get the weight off my back. I just don't want Heero going to Une and requesting me to be assigned somewhere else. I know what's going on here, but I just can't put my finger on it!' "People are dying needlessly," he began in a hoarse whisper. "We fought so hard so others wouldn't have to fight and die, but now, people are still dying. I know everybody dies eventually, but all these victims were innocent - well...except for Lucas, at least. They don't deserve it. I thought the vice of Shinigami would just disappear when the war ended, but it would seem that it's a title I will have to bear until I reach my own end."  
  
"You aren't Shinigami. If you were, you'd be the one that killed all those people." Duo couldn't help but feel touched. Heero's words may have been simple, but they seemed to be just what Duo needed to hear.  
  
He took on a manic grin. "Neh, Heero? How do you know that I'm *not* killing all those people? I could really be an insomniac, and everytime I think that I'm sleeping, I'm really awake but in the form of another persona that was created by my mind, and only *I'm* convinced that it's a totally separate person!"  
  
"Baka," the Japanese man replied, a slight smirk on his face. "That movie isn't healthy."  
  
"Aw, you're just jealous because I love it more than you!"  
  
"Duo, shut up."  
  
*~**~*  
  
January 28, 201 AC  
  
*~**~*  
  
Duo was running late again. It really hadn't been his fault this time, too. The bus broke down, so that particular route wouldn't be running until they could free up another bus; Duo called the cab, but once it got within three miles of headquarters traffic thickened and wasn't going anywhere for a long time, so he decided it would be faster to get out of the cab and walk. Unfortunately Duo had anticipated that he was closer than he actually had been and had to start running in order to be some semblence of on-time, but he was still going to be late.  
  
The sidewalks were crowded, but at least they moved faster than the cars honking angrily on the street. Duo looked at the traffic, whistling with relief that he wasn't stuck in it. 'They're probably filling a pothole up ahead. About damn time, too.' Duo looked forward in time to see a man whose face was obstructed behind the bill of a Yankees[2] cap right before plowing into the man.  
  
Duo reflexively grabbed the man's shoulder to steady them. "Whoa, sorry. I completely spaced out for a second! Are you okay?"  
  
//circumventing circuses  
lamenting in protest  
to visible police  
presence sponsored fear  
battalions of riot police  
with rubber bullet kisses  
baton courtesy  
service with a smile//  
  
The man smirked out from under his cap, but Duo still couldn't see any of his features. "It's perfectly all right. I'm fine, and I should have been paying better attention, so it's partially my fault. Now, if you'll excuse me, but I'm in a hurry." The man continued walking before Duo could say anything else. "And I'll see you soon, Agent Maxwell."  
  
Duo spun around to face the stranger, shock clearly evident on the former-pilot's features, but the man was nowhere to be seen. The motion of the crowd eventually started to push Duo towards Preventers HQ, and he was left speechless and wondering who, exactly, he had walked into, what he meant, and whether or not it really was an accident.  
  
//beyond the staples center you can see america  
with it's tired, poor, avenging disgrace  
peaceful, loving youth against the brutality  
of plastic exisistence//  
  
"Guys...you will *not* believe what just ha-" Duo took one look at the scene confronting him and walked right back out of the room. "I can tell already...this is just going to be one of those days..."  
  
"Well you could have knocked!" came a slightly dampened shout from the enclosed room.  
  
Duo leaned against the wall wearing an expression that seemed to say I-know-all-your-dirty-little-secrets, smirk and all. "I've come to expect a lot of things in my life, and even though I may have been suspecting this one for a *long* time, I didn't expect to be bringing it up anytime soon."  
  
The door swung open followed by a red-tinged Quatre accompanied by an amused yet sheepish looking Trowa. "Is it too much to ask for some *privacy* around here?" Duo felt a little bad, but only a little. His Arab friend looked like he was about to explode.  
  
"Hate to burst your bubble, Q, but this is an *office* building, not a hotel! So...just out of curiosity...about how long has this been going on for, if I may ask?" Duo was having quite the time pestering the pair.  
  
"Um...about five years," Quatre seemed to have a sudden interest in the standard-issue Preventers jacket he was wearing.  
  
"Five *years*! Sweet! It looks like Wufei *and* Heero owe me a little money..."  
  
"You had a bet going," Trowa didn't seem surprised at all. 'Of course, the guy doesn't seem to be surprised by much, does he? Hey, I'm glad for them...that's three hundred dollars for me.'  
  
"What is all the yelling about?"  
  
"Hey, Wufei, you gotta pay up now; I totally won the bet!"  
  
The Chinese man blinked twice before turning his attention to Trowa and Quatre. "Since after the war, huh?" He looked at Trowa specifically. "You could ask Une to transfer you to L-4 to be closer."  
  
Trowa shrugged. "Quatre has a plan."  
  
Quatre smiled not-too-innocently in Duo's direction. "So, Wufei, what's the pool on Heero and Duo up to?"  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
"Duo, what is it now? You're audible three floors down."  
  
The braided man blanched, hoping that Heero hadn't heard what Quatre just said. "N-Nothing! Well, wait, yeah, there was something, but then I got...distracted..."  
  
//pushing little children  
with their fully automatics  
they like to push the weak around  
pushing little children  
with their fully automatics  
they like to push the weak around//  
  
Duo told them about how he was late and ended up running to Headquarters right up until he walked into the strange man and the events that followed. "Weird, huh?"  
  
"Was there anything distinguishable?" Trowa asked, grabbing a pen and notepad from the conference room table in case there was anything Duo could come up with.  
  
"Um...he was wearing a Yankees cap."  
  
Quatre pinched the bridge of his nose. "Duo...it's New York. *Everyone* wears a Yankees cap!"  
  
The amethyst-eyed American held his hands up defensively. "Hey, don't yell at me, it was all I could distinguish! The hat was covering the guy's face! He seemed to be about Wufei's size but with a smaller build, but that's all I can tell you!"  
  
"Don't worry about it," Heero said, standing up to leave. "It was probably nothing."  
  
*~**~*  
  
January 31, 201 AC  
  
*~**~*  
  
//a rush of words  
pleading to disperse  
upon your naked walls, alive  
a political call  
the fall guy accord  
we can't afford to be neutral on a moving train//  
  
The chief of police was leading the five former-Gundam pilots through one of the ritzier homes in New York City. "Victim was 42-years-old, a Miss Magdalena Thompson, formerly known as Mrs Magdalena DuBois. The divorce settlement between her and her husband was settled well over seven years ago, granting her former-husband full custody of their three children, but she was still expected to pay child support which, according to reports, she didn't.  
  
"The scene of the crime is pretty morbid; the only way we could tell it was her was through the neighbors because we weren't able to get in someone to look at her teeth without disturbing the crime scene."  
  
"Was she burnt?" Trowa asked.  
  
"Well...let's put it this way. I've seen cows coming out of a butcher shop in less pieces than this. With more skin, at that. Her eyes seem to be missing, though, which is a little strange, but if there were rats in the house they would have gone for the eyes first." Duo had to repress a shudder at the thought. "Well, you can go see her if you want to, but it isn't a pretty sight."  
  
//beyond the staples center you can see america  
with it's tired, poor, avenging disgrace  
peaceful, loving youth against the brutality  
of plastic exisistence//  
  
Duo stayed back. "You said she didn't pay child support?"  
  
"That's what her childrens' father said."  
  
"But she could afford this house? That doesn't make sense..."  
  
"We were going to look around but decided to leave that to you Preventers people."  
  
Duo looked up in time to see Quatre going through all the closets, cabinets, and boxes he could find. "Hey, Duo...why wouldn't she give money to her own children?"  
  
He shrugged. "Anger. Revenge. Or maybe she was a real Scrooge." Duo tilted his head. "Why? What'd you find?" Quatre tossed something in Duo's direction, and he caught it easily, eyes widening at what it was. "Quatre? This is a three inch stack of hundred dollar bills."  
  
"I know. There's a lot more of them, too, in different denominations."  
  
//pushing little children  
with their fully automatics  
they like to push the weak around  
pushing little children  
with their fully automatics  
they like to push the weak around//  
  
"She could *definitely* afford to pay the child support. I bet this is all stolen money; there isn't really any other explanation for where it all came from... Unless she sold drugs on the streets, but still, this is ridiculous. I don't think I'll see this much money in cash ever!"  
  
"Wufei's still taking pictures," Heero informed them as he and Trowa walked back into the kitchen-dining area of the house.  
  
"What's it look like?" Quatre asked, Duo noting how he had said *it* instead of *she*, probably detaching himself from the victim. 'I already know he can't go in there or his Space Heart will be on overload, but would he really need to separate himself from a victim even though she was a big enough bitch to not send money to her own kids?'  
  
Trowa and Heero exchanged a glance before Trowa continued. "I doubt I'll be able to eat pulled pork ever again."  
  
Quatre winced, motioning to one of the several shoeboxes full of money. "Our killer left behind all of this."  
  
//push them around  
a deer dance, invitation to peace  
war staring you in the face, dressed in black   
with a helmet, fierce  
trained and appropriate for the malcontents   
for the disproportioned malcontents  
the little boy smiled, it'll all be well  
and see the little boy smiled, it'll all be well//  
  
Wufei emerged from the living room, placing the lens cap back on the camera. "I'm having salad for dinner tonight. We should let forensics take over from here; they'll be able to find the little details since we got the big ones. You tell them our theory?"  
  
Duo blinked. "Tell who what theory?"  
  
"The killer didn't use a knife," Heero replied, disgust most evident on his otherwise indifferent features. "Based on the serrations on the muscle, bone, and organs, it looks more like an electric turkey carver."  
  
"Great," Duo's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Just great. It's bad enough it smells like a dead body in here, but after I look at those pictures I'll *never* be able to eat a nice, juicy dead animal again not to mention that there's letters on the refridgerator spelling out a message and it's *really* freaking me out!"  
  
//pushing little children  
with their fully automatics  
they like to push the weak around//  
  
/dEARESt PilOtS,  
  
i'M SO PlEASEd tO SEE YOU tAkiNG PARt iN MY littlE GAME, ANd i thOUGht thAt YOU ShOUld All kNOW thAt i hAVE ENCOUNtEREd EACh ANd EVERY ONE Of YOU WithiN thE PASt WEEk. it'S NiCE tO kNOW thAt thE PRESENtS i'M lEAViNG bEhinD AREN't GOiNG tO WAStE. i'M POSitiVE thAt YOU hAVE fiGUREd OUt MY PAttERN, bUt i dOUbt YOU'VE lEARNEd MY SElECtiON PROCESS, SO JUSt tO bE SAfE, i'M RESChEdUliNG thE NEXt SEVERAl WEEkS tO fiNd WAYS Of ENliGhtENiNG YOU dEAR PilOts.  
  
UNtil WE MEEt AGAiN.../  
  
//pushing little children  
with their fully automatics  
they like to push the weak around  
pushing little children  
with their fully automatics  
they like to push the weak around  
pushing little children  
with their fully automatics  
they like to push the weak around  
push the weak around  
push the weak around  
push the weak around  
they like to push the weak around//  
  
*~**~*  
  
End Part 5  
  
[1] Don't you hate it when that happens? I know the ones at school are incompetent and a ripoff. It's a dollar for a bag of gummy bears and half the time they get stuck.  
[2] Ahhh! It's the Curse of the Bambino still! Ahhhh! ::is a Red Sox fan:: 


	6. Gluttony

Title: ZER0 - Part 6 - Gluttony  
Author: Vinyl Koneko (Emily), roguegirl@att.net  
Rating: R  
Warnings: language, angst, death, blood, gruesome stuff, yaoi  
Archive: Want it? Take it. Just give me credit, please.  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I just like to play with them and make them play with each other.   
Comments: *Emphasis*, 'thought', [flashback], /written/, //lyrics//. Gluttony is the Sixth Deadly Sin and is defined as excess in eating or drinking. Ah, this would have been out a few days earlier but I've been working on a Weiß Kreuz site...now all I need is a host...  
  
*~**~*  
  
February 1, 201 AC  
  
*~**~*  
  
"This doesn't make any sense," Duo sighed, plopping down on his sofa, watching Heero go through the rooms and setup security cameras. "There were no direct threats to us, and if the killer ran into us before, he could have killed us then but didn't. There hasn't been anything out-of-the-ordinary around here." He paused to watch Heero for a moment. His friend was standing on a chair to rig a motion-sensitive camera up in a corner that had a full view of the door and both windows. So much as a moth beating its wings outside would trigger the camera; Une had ordered it when she heard the latest message. She wasn't taking any chances. "I could have done this myself, you know."  
  
"You wouldn't have," the Japanese man replied, no uncertainty evident in his voice. "And then if something happened to you, Une would've had my ass."  
  
The corners of Duo's mouth turned upwards into a smirk. "What an interesting mental image *that* is."  
  
"Duo..."  
  
"Yeah yeah, I know, shut up."  
  
"Duo..."  
  
"Hey! I'm being quiet, so stop talking to me!"  
  
"...can you hand me the drill?"  
  
"Oh." Duo pushed himself off the couch and handed Heero the drill. "What do you think he meant by 'enlightening' us?"  
  
"More clues, possibly. A seriel killer wants to get caught eventually. It's almost been a month; maybe the killer is getting sick of playing games."  
  
Duo saw something reflecting light out of the corner of his eye. It was too far away to tell exactly what it was. 'Probably a solar panel or something...a really small one...' "Neh, Heero? What do you think that is?" he asked, pointing in the direction of the light.  
  
Heero turned around, squinting his eyes a little as if that would help. All of a sudden Duo heard a muffled boom, and the back of Duo's head was slammed into the hardwood floor as Heero tackled him to the ground. His head was swimming and he could have sworn he was seeing stars as he heard two more sounds - the breaking of glass and the smash of exploding plastic. A light woomph sound followed, and then everything went silent.   
  
Duo had to fight the urge to pout when the warmth of Heero's body left his. 'Wait a second...where the heck did that thought come from?' Duo groaned outloud.  
  
"Duo? Daijoubu desu ka? You're not hurt, are you?" The sudden concern from Heero touching, for the second time in a week.  
  
"No, I'm fine, really. I just...thought something," he grinned weakly, hoping Heero wouldn't press the issue. "Now what the fuck was all of that?!"  
  
"Gunshot; if you didn't point it out, I could have a hole in my head."  
  
"Charming." He looked up at the camera that they had been previously installing. It was shot to pieces. "You think the bullet activated the motion sensor?" Duo asked dryly, but received no response. Heero was looking at something that was sticking out of his wall, approaching it as if it could be triggered to explode at any second. Duo jumped to his feet, immediately regretting the movement as his head started to spin again, and he had to steady himself for a moment. "It's an arrow."  
  
"With a message," Heero stated, unwrapping a piece of notebook paper from the shaft. "You got mail."  
  
Duo snatched the sheet. "You know, if you keep working on that sense of humor, you just might become human yet!" He unfurled the paper slowly, trying to disguise the light trembling in his hands.  
  
/NUMbERS CAN bE SO iMPORtANt tO US All. thEY hElP US StAY ORGANiZEd, ANd thEY hAVE A REPRESENtAtiON OR AN ASSOCiAtiON. EVEN YOUR NAME hAS ONE - OR ShOUld i SAY - tWO? thE iMPliCAtiON Of A COUPlE iS NOt bYPASSiNG MY AttENtiON. ENOUGh AbOUt YOU, lEt'S tAlk AbOUt ME - i thiNk thAt iS MORE iMPORtANt tO YOU At thE MOMENt. i AM fUllY AWARE Of EVERY MOVE YOU MAkE. i AM fUllY AWARE Of EVERY MOVE YOUR fRiENdS MAkE. i kNOW AbOUt YOUR PASt; i AM iN YOUR PRESENt; i CAN CONtROl YOUR fUtURE. it'S thE SAME fOR thE OthER fOUR Of YOU, AS WEll. it'S AlMOSt fUNNY, thE tRAGEdY YOU bOYS ENGUlf YOURSElVES iN. i GUESS YOU AlWAYS WERE GlUttONS fOR PUNiShMENt.  
  
thAt iS thE ONlY ClUE i AM AllOWiNG YOU UNtil thE dEEd iS dONE ON thE SEVENth. i'M SORRY thAt it'S SUCh A...lARGE AREA, bUt it REAllY iS thOSE PEOPlES' PROblEM, NOt MiNE./  
  
Duo thrust the note into Heero's grasp. "You know...sometimes I really *hate* my job." He waited for the Prussian eyed Japanese man to finish reading. "Well?"  
  
"We can get a handwriting analysis before trying to figure out what the killer's alluding to." Heero grabbed his coat off the back of a chair and put his shoes back on. "Although all it could be able to tell us is if we've seen similar notes or graffiti from him before."  
  
Duo shrugged. "Whatever works." He looked over at the shattered camera littered on the hardwood floor with the pieces embedded in the wall. "And I hope you don't mind, but I think I'm going to be staying with you for a little while."  
  
*~**~*  
  
February 2, 201 AC  
  
*~**~*  
  
Duo was on his sixth cup of coffee and was probably giving the poor forensics agent a heart attack. When the results came in, the braided American fell over backwards...literally.  
  
"What do you mean nothing came up!?"  
  
"There were no matches, Agent Maxwell, besides to the other messages we have received."  
  
Duo slumped back to the ground, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Is there *anything* you can tell me?"  
  
"Actually, yes...the paper is homemade from newspaper pulp, and the ink is most likely from a fountain pen because of the way it bled into the paper."  
  
Duo looked crestfallen. "So the guy makes his own paper. How the hell is that supposed to help?"  
  
The scientist shrugged. "It narrows things down a little."  
  
"I really hate this. Can't you tell me something useful?"  
  
"The paper has various yellow and red stains on it. I ran it through a chemical analysis and they're nothing more than mustard and ketchup. I'd check out Yankee Stadium next time you're in the area."  
  
[Duo looked forward in time to see a man whose face was obstructed behind the bill of a Yankees cap right before plowing into the man.  
  
Duo reflexively grabbed the man's shoulder to steady them. "Whoa, sorry. I completely spaced out for a second! Are you okay?"  
  
The man smirked out from under his cap, but Duo still couldn't see any of his features. "It's perfectly all right. I'm fine, and I should have been paying better attention, so it's partially my fault. Now, if you'll excuse me, but I'm in a hurry." The man continued walking before Duo could say anything else. "And I'll see you soon, Agent Maxwell."]  
  
'Maybe this guy isn't as smart as he thinks he is.'  
  
*~**~*  
  
Duo and Heero made their way to Heero's apartment in relative silence. It wasn't too far away from headquarters, and the night was warm for early February, so they had decided to walk - Duo allowing the cool air to organize his thoughts and anything he might have gathered at the past four crime scenes, prying for anything he might have picked up subconsciously but forgotten to pay any real attention to.   
  
Heero noticed his friend's unusual silence and didn't say anything at first, but when they reached the elevator and he pushed the button for the eighth floor. "Still no new leads." It was a statement, not a question.  
  
"The killer gets a ballpark frank with his morning paper..." Duo said absent-mindedly, his gaze fixed on the flashing numbers abover the door.  
  
"Nani?"  
  
"The paper that the message it was on...forensics said it was homemade and a chemical analysis revealed that the stains were ketchup and mustard. The guy that I walked into had a Yankees cap on and knew who I was..." the door opened on the fifth floor to let more people on. "The street vendors will still be out even though it isn't baseball season. Too bad. It would have been more fun if we got to go to a game." The same people that got on at the fifth floor got off at the seventh. "Ch'. Some people are just too lazy to take the stairs nowadays."  
  
"There wasn't anything else?"  
  
The door chimed and opened up, announcing their arrival on the eighth floor. They left the elevator car, walking down the hallway briefly before stopping in front of room 807. "The guy makes his own paper out of the New York Times and uses a fountain pen...and we know his eating habits, but that's all besides the supposed clue in the note he ever-so-kindly delivered to me the other day and the fact that we know somebody is going to die in five days."  
  
Heero pulled out his key and unlocked the door, flipping on the lights as he took off his shoes. Duo had been there that morning to drop off his stuff, but didn't really look at the inside of Heero's apartment. Now that he had a good look, he was shocked. The flat was a spacious studio apartment, which Heero used to his advantage by adding rice-paper dividers that did a good job creating the illusion that there was more than one room besides the main room and the bathroom. The decor was obviously Japanese with muted tones and lighting that was bright enough to see clearly yet soft enough to be comfortable, even soothing.  
  
"You look surprised," Heero remarked simply, pulling a disk out of his pocket and transferring the information he took from the case files to his own laptop.  
  
"It just seems a little out-of-character. I mean, it's not bad, really nice and homey, actually, but I thought it would be a little more...Spartan."  
  
The Japanese man just shrugged, looking slightly embarrassed. "It's the first place I can actually call home. Isn't it supposed to feel that way?"  
  
"I guess so." 'Of course, isn't someplace you can call home supposed to be reflective of yourself? Why do I suddenly feel like I don't know Heero as well as I thought I did?' "You want to decorate my place?" Duo asked cheekily with a wink.   
  
Heero didn't reply. He was too busy looking over a photograph of the note that had been shot into Duo's apartment the day before. "What do you think about the first sentence?"  
  
[/NUMbERS CAN bE SO iMPORtANt tO US All. thEY hElP US StAY ORGANiZEd, ANd thEY hAVE A REPRESENtAtiON OR AN ASSOCiAtiON. EVEN YOUR NAME hAS ONE - OR ShOUld i SAY - tWO?/]  
  
"I don't know. It could be part of the clue, but how I haven't quite figured out yet. I don't feel like going through each number to figure out what it's associated with or what it represents."  
  
"Just start at the beginning. What's one represent?"  
  
Duo grinned widely before he started to sing. "One is the loneliest number that you'll ever doooooo. Twooooo can be as bad as one; it's the loneliest number since the number o~one."  
  
"Duo, this is serious."  
  
"C'mon, Heero, you can't expect me to be serious on an empty stomach. Let's get a pizza or something and see if that helps. I think a Hawaiian sounds really good right now..."  
  
"Iie. The worst thing you can do to a pizza is put pineapple on it."  
  
"Okay, then how about...?"  
  
*~**~*  
  
February 7, 201 AC  
  
*~**~*  
  
A local news station got to the next killing before Preventers even got wind of it. Duo wasn't even going to try and guess how that worked, but all he could figure out was that they got tipped off somehow, and the reporter would have to be questioned later.  
  
A sports bar across the street from Yankee Stadium exploded shortly after midnight. Duo was having a grand time cursing himself out for not checking out the area. He was supposed to go look around the ballpark - the paper had the clue right there - and he did, but he never thought to look across the street. It was cold and exhausting and nothing had been tipping him off.  
  
'This is my fault. This is my fault. This is my fault,' repeated like a mantra in his head. 'I wasn't good enough, and now more people are dead.'  
  
There had been 113 people in the bar, even though it had a 100 person maximum. Twelve of those who had been killed were employees whether it was the jazz band, the bartenders, or the waitresses. The other 101 people were simply patrons who picked the wrong place at the wrong night, and now all their parts were blown all over the area. Dental records wouldn't be able to help this time.  
  
What hit even harder was the graffiti sprayed in red in the middle of the street in front of the bar that had exploded.  
  
/ONE iS thE lONEliESt NUMbER  
ONE iS thE lONEliESt NUMbER  
ONE iS thE lONEliESt NUMbER thAt YOU'll EVER dO/  
  
*~**~*  
  
End Part 6 


	7. Lust

Title: ZER0 - Part 7 - Lust  
Author: Vinyl Koneko (Emily), roguegirl@att.net  
Rating: R  
Warnings: language, angst, death, blood, gruesome stuff, yaoi  
Archive: Want it? Take it. Just give me credit, please.  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I just like to play with them and make them play with each other.   
Comments: *Emphasis*, 'thought', [flashback], /written/, //lyrics//. Lust is the Seventh Deadly Sin and is defined as an intense or unrestrained sexual craving. I know nothing on NYC so please don't hurt me if I got something wrong. ^_^ And if I got anymore info wrong, sorry, but my Episode Zero ran away. -_-;;  
  
*~**~*  
  
/At that time, I just wanted to leave. I wasn't helping anybody, and whoever the killer was, he seemed to be taunting me more than the other pilots. I still don't know why. Maybe we're similar somehow, or he expects me to understand his reasoning behind what he has done. But I didn't, and I still don't. It feels like it's on the tip of my tongue, though, and that's really pissing me off.  
  
It scares me, too, though. If somehow and in someway it's personal. So far only complete strangers have been targeted, people I've had little or no connection with, but what if they start getting closer to home? I don't think I could tolerate that. I know guilt. I know desperation. I know revenge. As much as I'd rather put the facade to rest, I still need to be Shinigami at times, just like how Heero can't truly kill the soldier in him, no matter how well he hides it.  
  
Heero's probably the most unlikely relationship of mine in the five of us. I mean, when we first met, I shot him. Repeatedly. Sure, I wasn't trying to kill him, but I still could've. It's probably fate just being all twisted and fucked up like fate wants to be. As much as I'd hate to think that there's someone in control of my life besides me, way too many coincidences occur for it all to be an accident.  
  
Like me and Heero.../  
  
*~**~*  
  
February 8, 201 AC  
  
*~**~*  
  
"There has to be a bug in there or something..." Duo was digging through a cabinet of the more high-tech gizmos and gadgets the Preventers agents were allowed to use at any point on a case if they were deemed necessary. "I don't even want to *think* about how the killer could've gotten in there, but you might want to get new locks, Heero, buddy."  
  
"Duo...what are you looking for?"  
  
"The transmission scanner thing... Shit, I know we have one, now where the hell is it?"  
  
At that moment, Wufei walked in to see Duo's butt sticking out of the cabinet. "Lose your brain again, Maxwell?"  
  
Duo pulled himself out with a boxy object with lights that flickered green and red in his hands. "Ha, ha. Funny, Fei-Fei, but wrong. Heero's apartment has bugs."  
  
"Why don't you just call an exterminator?"  
  
Duo's expression seemed to say you-can't-be-serious. "Not bugs as in *insects* - listening devices! We're being watched and I want to know why and how; then, if we track down where the transmission is coming from, voila, we found our killer and no one else needs to die!" Duo checked to make sure the device had batteries. "I'm ready when you are."   
  
Heero nodded and they left without a word, Wufei trailing behind.  
  
"What about the crime scene investigation?"  
  
[/ONE iS thE lONEliESt NUMbER/]  
  
Duo shuddered involuntarily. "I think T and Q can handle it fine by themselves, Wu-man. It'll be forensics still tearing the place inside-out anyway...more inside-out than it already is, at least."  
  
"Is that an invitation for me to join you?"  
  
The American shrugged. "Only if you want to."  
  
*~**~*  
  
The device beeped a steady monotone, lights flashing red along every wall and other place that seemed to be the ideal location for a listening device. The carpet, the furniture, and every electronic device also came back negative. The monotonous beeping was slowly getting on the three Preventers agents' nerves.  
  
"Duo, there's nothing in here," Heero said, almost a little too smugly.  
  
"Then how the hell would he know? The song can't be *that* popular, and I don't believe in coincidences anymore."  
  
"Maybe it was just irony," Wufei suggested. "The killer might not have known that you said anything about it, and he had planned to put the message there earlier."  
  
[/thE iMPliCAtiON Of A COUPlE iS NOt bYPASSiNG MY AttENtiON./]  
  
[/ONE iS thE lONEliESt NUMbER thAt YOU'll EVER dO/]  
  
"Damn it. He's giving us a mental mind fuck and the sadistic bastard knows that it's rape." Duo rubbed at his temples. "I think I have a date with Sam Adams tonight."  
  
Wufei put on a wry smile. "Well in that case, can I recommend an airy little sports bar across the street from Yankee Stadium?"  
  
Heero snatched the device before Duo could break it and went to put it back in its box where Duo left in next to his Preventers jacket. "Duo, no; it won't help. Wufei...shut up."  
  
A wailing klaxon sounded, causing Duo to jump, startled, before he realized what it was. "Heero...the transmitter... Where is it?" He walked slowly forward to see where it had been located.  
  
"Aa, it's on your coat, Duo."  
  
[The man smirked out from under his cap, but Duo still couldn't see any of his features. "It's perfectly all right. I'm fine, and I should have been paying better attention, so it's partially my fault. Now, if you'll excuse me, but I'm in a hurry." The man continued walking before Duo could say anything else. "And I'll see you soon, Agent Maxwell."]  
  
Duo blanched, not even able to think of something to say.  
  
Heero noticed his friend's distress, but things had to be done, and fast. "Wufei, my laptop's on the coffee table. We have to trace the origin of this transmission ASAP."  
  
*~**~*  
  
PROGRAM ON  
  
ENTER COMMAND:  
  
LOCATE TRANSMISSION ORIGIN  
  
TRACKING...  
TRACKING...  
TRACKING...  
TRACKING...  
  
TRANSMISSION ORIGIN: LOCKED ON  
  
NORTH AMERICA, EARTH  
  
NARROWING COORDINATES  
  
TRACKING...  
TRACKING...  
  
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA  
  
NARROWING COORDINATES  
  
TRACKING...  
TRACKING...  
  
NORTHEASTERN, USA  
  
NARROWING COORDINATES  
  
TRACKING...  
TRACKING...  
  
NEW YORK STATE  
  
NARROWING COORDINATES  
  
TRACKING...  
TRACKING...  
  
NEW YORK CITY  
  
NARROWING COORDINATES  
  
TRACKING...  
TRACKING...  
  
985 BROAD ST  
  
NARROWING COORDINATES  
  
TRACKING...  
TRACKING...  
  
PRINTING BLUEPRINT NOW  
  
FURTHER INFORMATION? Y/N  
  
N  
  
PROGRAM END  
  
*~**~*  
  
February 9, 201 AC  
  
*~**~*  
  
The search ended at midnight; Wufei called NYPD requesting a search warrant for 985 Broad St in lower Manhatten. The department had responded quickly, breaking into the home of a Mister Norman Baker at nine-thirty that morning. The five Preventers agents who were assigned to the case were there, eager to end the killer's reign. One of the New York officers kicked the door open, and they entered cautiously in case of an ambush.  
  
Duo checked the safety on his gun for the fifth time in the past minute. "I don't miss the smell of gunpowder, that's for sure," he commented conversationally. "Whatever it takes to nab the bastard, though."  
  
"Don't get your hopes up," Trowa said.  
  
Quatre nodded absent-mindedly. "This doesn't feel right." His gaze was concentrated on something far away.  
  
"You guys can be so disheartening..." Duo was shifting from one foot to the other impatiently until he felt a sharp tug on his braid, but before he could complain a lieutenant came back out in the hallway.  
  
"Agents, you might want to take a look at this..."  
  
Duo, not wanting to hear the bad news from a cop and preferring to find out for himself, pushed himself into the apartment before the lieutenant could finish whatever he was going to say.   
  
In the main room were several recording devices, enough to last years. Black and white photographs were hanging on the walls, side-by-side with newspaper clippings. The colored lighting of the room made it hard to see, but there was enough green and blue light to locate what was meant to be seen. The photographs were before and after shots of each of the victims, next to the newspaper report of their murder. Twelve-year-old Evan Gail was smiling brightly, surrounded by his dogs, in an article about his brutal death. The Preventers ID photo of Paul Lucas was the one printed in the paper next to a photograph of his office marked off with yellow police tape, bloodstains on the wall. The killer's personal collection was once again before and after, the before being one he took himself of Lucas, tears streaming down his face, mouth contorted to form silent words, most likely pleas for his life. And after, the glazed over stare and the blood oozing out of the bullet wound in the middle of his forehead.  
  
And there were more from each and every kill. There was a collection of obituaries tacked to a corkboard under a lithograph of the Last Supper. Another newspaper clipping caught Duo's attention, and automatically he felt his mouth go dry.  
  
Maxwell Church Disaster - One Survivor  
  
[/i kNOW AbOUt YOUR PASt; i AM iN YOUR PRESENt; i CAN CONtROl YOUR fUtURE./]  
  
The newspaper clipping was turning grey from age and was limp, as if it had been folded and stuffed into a pocket countless times over the years. Duo had seen the article so many times; he couldn't hide from it, no matter how far and how fast he ran. That was when he started calling himself Shinigami, and to cope with the loss of those that had cared for him more than anybody, he learned to treat it as a title, an honor, instead of a burden. The photo of him next to the article was from the school he had spent time at. He was scowling at the camera with a light of mischievous revenge in his eyes. After the picture had been taken, Duo snuck in during the photographers' lunch break and punched several small holes into the back of the camera, so the film that was about to be taken would be prematurely exposed by pinpricks of light. He remembered one of the girls that would make fun of him had run home crying because of her ruined picture, and Duo's day was made better because of it. The newspaper's reporter had never even talked to him; his body wasn't in the rubble, so everyone assumed he was still alive, but no one bothered to look for him.  
  
Duo blinked suddenly and wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. 'Shit. Not this, not now. Not now. Not now. Not now!' He looked down at his hands. They were trembling violently, and he stared at them with a sort of morbid curiosity. 'I wanted to forget. I tried so hard to forget. I haven't cried since then, so why am I now?'   
  
He felt a hand on his shoulder and suddenly remembered he wasn't alone in the apartment. "I'm taking the rest of the day off," Duo announced, trying to keep his voice steady and briefly catching the shock in Heero's eyes when he turned around and left for an unknown destination.  
  
*~**~*  
  
/I still don't know why that article was there, and why it was just me, but I'm starting to think that maybe, just maybe, the killer was right in saying he was able to control our future. That image might have been planted there for a reason, and if the reason is what my day-off led up to, I would hate to think that I owed something to the killer.  
  
I mean, when this is all over and we finally nab the guy, I wouldn't want to think that his actions made my life better in the slightest way. I'll believe that incidents led up to it, but I will never give in and say that this sick bastard had benefitted my life./  
  
*~**~*  
  
There was a quick knock at the door. "Duo, open up."  
  
Duo was lying on his side on the sofa, watching a Spanish soap opera on the television but more just watching for something to do than to understand what was going on. He could understand if he *wanted* to, but the American wasn't feeling to up to thinking right now. He was up to forgetting.  
  
"It's your apartment. You have a key."  
  
"How did you get in?"  
  
"I'm Duo Maxwell, break-in-break-out artist extraordinaire; I run, I hide, but I never tell a lie." Duo turned the volume on the television up a little, laughing half-heartedly at the commercials.  
  
"Duo just open the damn door!"  
  
"YOU HAVE THE FUCKING KEY, YUY!"  
  
"You locked the door for privacy, Duo; I'd be intruding on that if I opened the door myself."  
  
Duo let out a small, "Oh," before getting up slowly, hovering his hand over the doorhandle to let Heero in. 'Why's he being so nice to me? Why do I think I have feelings for him all of a sudden? And why in God's name are my eyes watering again. It's like I have a fucking leak or something...' He unlocked the door and opened in a little before launching himself back across the room to sprawl in his position in front of the television.  
  
"Baka," the violet-eyed American caught Heero saying softly as he shut the door. "Are you going to work tomorrow?" Duo shook his head. "Someone else will die in five days if we don't stop them." Heero paused and continued when there was no response. "We need your help."  
  
"Why? The killer seems to have some sort of vendetta against me. He probably can see me lying here being miserable and is getting himself off on it."  
  
"Then don't give him the pleasure by giving up. All these things involving you...it might be somebody from your past."  
  
Duo seemed to consider that for a moment. "Everyone from my past is dead."  
  
"Duo..."  
  
"Will you *stop* saying my name like that? Jesus Christ, Heero, you're starting to sound like fucking *Relena*!" Duo's eyes widened and he clamped his hand over his mouth. 'I'm gonna die now. Just peachy.' Duo's instincts were telling him to start talking to try and save his sorry ass, and frantic babble started to pour out. "S-Sorry, Heero, really. I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I know your friends with her and all, maybe even more for all I know, but I've been having a really shitty day with no reason to take it out on you or Miss Relena whatsoever and it was out-of-line and immature of me, and I really shouldn't have said that because I do technically work for her, maintaining peace, preventing war and all, and..." He paused. Something wasn't right. Heero Yuy was...laughing? "What the hell is so funny?"  
  
"You think I'm mad at you."  
  
Duo blinked owlishly, disbelieving. "You're *not* mad at me?"  
  
"Iie, baka. Why should I be mad? You needed to vent before you hurt yourself."  
  
[/i GUESS YOU AlWAYS WERE GlUttONS fOR PUNiShMENt./]  
  
The braided American couldn't help but smile, honestly, truly smile. Heero's laughter had seemed to lighten him up, and for the first time, Duo was seeing his Japanese friend without any emotional barriers. "Yeah, I'm a baka, all right. A big, stupid baka."  
  
They sat in silence watching the Spanish soap operas for the next several minutes, Duo being able to figure out what was going on and even laugh when necessary while Heero could only pick out every few words. J hadn't seen languages as part of his training, but it seemed Duo had picked a lot up, almost fluently, from growing up on L-2 and later with the Sweepers Group.  
  
"Neh, Heero?"  
  
"Hn?"  
  
"Wanna order a pizza or something? Actually, screw the pizza, I could really do Chinese right now."  
  
"There's a place a little down the street. What do you want?"  
  
Duo, after changing his mind several times, finally came to a decision. "Heero?" The Japanese man looked back questioningly. "Why are you being so nice to me?"  
  
"You're...my friend, and you care so much for this killer to be brought to justice that it's becoming too personal and wearing you out."  
  
Duo got up from the couch and went over to lean against the wall near the doorway where Heero stood. "Do you think I'm caring too much?"  
  
Heero shook his head. "It's good to act on what you feel strongly about."  
  
The American bit his lower lip. "Then can I act on something else I feel strongly about?" Heero was obviously confused, so before any questions could be raised, Duo captured Heero's mouth with his own, feeling the hesitance at first on the other's behalf which gave way to a pleasurable moan as Duo's tongue plundered the hot, moist cavern of Heero's mouth. They broke apart wordlessly, just searching for truth in each other's eyes and finding apprenhension as well as desire.  
  
Heero removed his shoes and coat. They stayed in the apartment for dinner that night.  
  
*~**~*  
  
February 14, 201 AC  
  
*~**~*  
  
"Duo!" That was Quatre, popping his head in the door, eyes the size of saucers. "Nice of you to decide to come back. Who are the roses from?"  
  
The American grinned broadly, despite the melancholy that enveloped the five former-pilots. It was Valentine's Day, so the holiday that granted stuffing your face full of chocolate and romantic gestures should have been a happier time, but the fact that another murder was due wasn't helping much. Duo showed up at headquarters as early as possible. He wanted to be sent out to investigate the scene as soon as the call came in.  
  
"My lover, who else?" his smile became taunting. He knew that the others knew nothing about what had developed between him and Heero in the past several days because Duo had been on a sort of leave of absence and Heero just wasn't about to bring it up for no reason. "Why? Didn't Trowa get you anything?"  
  
"He did, but you're...you're not seeing anyone." Duo didn't respond; he just batted his eyelashes innocently. "Duo, spill, already! It's not like you to be staying so quiet about this."  
  
"Oh yeah, like you and Trowa told anybody. I had to walk into the middle of-"  
  
Quatre's face turned pink. "We had our reasons."  
  
"As I have mine."  
  
Heero chose that moment to walk into the office.  
  
"Good morning, Heero!" Duo chirped, and Quatre's eyes nearly fell out of his head as Heero smiled and they shared a tender kiss. Duo raised an eyebrow, noticing that Quatre was still standing in the doorway looking like he didn't know how to react. "Hey, Cat, today's not going to be a good day, so you should probably get some blank reports and have Trowa grab several rolls of film so we can leave quickly."  
  
*~**~*  
  
Duo thought he was going to throw up when he saw the body. Apparently the victim had been the recipient of an impromptu sex change and what was left of his genitalia had been stuffed down his throat where, by the look of the man's face, he choked to death.  
  
From Duo's reaction, Wufei didn't even look at the body and just recited off the information that had been gathered by the cop who had found the body from the neighbors' complaints of too much noise. The noise had turned out to be gay pornography that was on a repetitive play cycle. It was the last thing the victim saw before he died.  
  
"Victim is 56-year-old David Reeves. We were only able to ID him so quickly because he was on the most-wanted criminal lists for the Alliance, OZ, and the UESN. Reeves was a sexual predator and had been linked to the kidnapping, rape, and death of nearly twenty victims, the majority of which were under the age of seven."  
  
Duo's features expressed pure disgust. "Maybe he deserved this, then."  
  
Heero came back from searching the rest of the house. Trowa was taking pictures and Quatre was outside talking to the neighbors and asking if they saw anybody. Duo reached for reassurance as he grasped Heero's hand in his own, noticing red spots in the carpet below his feet. He looked up at the ceiling, noticing a new note from the killer in the collection of many they had received. The only difference was that instead of spray paint, this message was done in blood.  
  
/diRtY diRtY diRtY bOYS/  
  
*~**~*  
  
End Part 7 


	8. Humility

Title: ZER0 - Part 8 - Humility  
Author: Vinyl Koneko (Emily), roguegirl@att.net  
Rating: R  
Warnings: language, angst, death, blood, gruesome stuff, yaoi  
Archive: Want it? Take it. Just give me credit, please.  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I just like to play with them and make them play with each other.   
Comments: *Emphasis*, 'thought', [flashback]. Humility is the First Heavenly Virtue and is defined as the quality or state of being humble. Some minor religious babble in this part. Don't mind it, especially if I'm wrong...I don't go to church or anything. Sorry the part is so short, but it needed to be.  
  
*~**~*  
  
/That was the last kill. A week after Valentine's Day, none of us got any rest, anticipating what could be next, but nothing came. We thought maybe the killer was dead, but we kept receiving little messages. Another week would pass, another kill would be anticipated, and then again, nothing, but we still had to find him, and it was starting to look like he wasn't going to help us much.  
  
This cat-and-mouse went on since February 15th and today, the 7th of April, we're locked in a sort of showdown with the killer. I mentioned this earlier, remember? Yeah, so two months with no kills, we were all getting a bit nervous. And then things started to happen. Nothing big because no one died, but the killer soon came to realize that we had no clue who he was and started to get a little cocky. We'd get messages handwritten and delivered to our respective homes, and since his handwriting wasn't recorded, there was no way it could help us at all. It was humiliating, to say the least. Une sees us as her best operatives; we stopped one war and a major uprising, but we couldn't snatch a seriel killer.  
  
I figure there's a reason for that. With OZ or the Bartons, it was pretty simple. They waved their banners around and *told* us who they were and where they were, but this killer, he doesn't want us to know. At least not yet. But for some reason Une thinks smaller-scale means simpler means easier. I don't get it. The only reason we were assigned to this damn case was because of our pictures in Evan Gail's closet with a taunt spray-painted out them. There are professional detectives that handle these things, but it came to us.  
  
And now we're being humiliated. I hate it. And it's getting way to personal for my tastes. I mean, sure, I don't know if Heero and I would be together right now if it wasn't for the fact that I was taking this more personally than anybody else (no one else got letters from the killer...that was all me). That doesn't make me grateful to our little psycho, though. Heero still thinks there's some other reason that I was contacted and no one else. You know, like the killer wants to get caught and thinks I'll be able to figure everything out better than everyone else. In all honestly, I'm not the brains of the group, so I don't know how I would have better odds than everyone else, but it's nice to know that the neighborhood nutbags have a little faith in me.  
  
I don't know what I have faith in anymore. My friends, sure, but definitely not God. If man was created in His image, is He really a seriel killer? Or an OZ official? Or a man that rapes and molests little kids to get off? Father Maxwell would have said that God just made man and man made seriel killers and OZ and pedophilia, but sometimes, I'm just not sure.  
  
Oh well. Everyone should have something to believe in.  
  
I'm going back over what I just wrote down, trying to piece together clues that I might have missed and certain words that might relate to something else mentally. You know the game...word association, or something like that. I say one word, you say the first thing that pops into your head.  
  
Heero and Quatre have been gone for about an hour and a half, now. I hope they're all right. Haven't heard anything and there's nothing suspicious on the security monitors, but it's been strangely quiet for a long time, now. I think Wufei fell asleep, and the steady toss-bounce-drop-toss-thud-stick-drop of Trowa throwing pencils at the ceiling has stopped well over an hour ago. Sheesh, it couldn't have been Trowa and Quatre that went out on the mini-recon. Then at least Heero and I could find something to do to pass the time...just kick Wufei out or be really quiet or something.  
  
I'm looking at the little notes we've gotten since two days after the last kill, now, and sadly, they aren't helping. Most sound lyrical, while the other two are just taunting.  
  
hOW dOES it fEEl?  
hOW ShOUld i fEEl?  
tEll ME, hOW dOES it fEEl,  
tO tREAt ME likE YOU dO?  
  
YOU ARE At MY MERCY ANd MY COMMANd. i CAN MAkE YOU dO WhAtEVER i WANt. i SAY JUMP ANd YOU ASk "hOW hiGh?" SUCh GOOd ANd ObEdiENt littlE PUPPEts. it'S tOO bAd YOU'RE SO bliNd OR YOU'd hAVE ME bY NOW.  
  
hOPE YOU'RE ENJOYiNG EACh OthER'S COMPANY. it WON't lASt VERY lONG bECAUSE NOthiNG lAStS fOREVER. EVERYthiNG lEAVES. EVERYthiNG diES. EVERYthiNG MOVES ON AftER. it'S EASiER tO fORGEt thAN it iS tO REMEMbER. WhAt dO YOU REMEMbER? i PRObAblY REMEMbER MORE AbOUt YOU thAN YOU REMEMbER AbOUt YOURSElVES.  
  
EVERYONE i kNOW  
GOES AWAY, iN thE ENd.  
YOU COUld hAVE it All,  
MY EMPiRE Of diRt.  
i Will lEt YOU dOWN.  
i Will MAkE YOU hURt.  
  
tiME hEAls  
tiME CONGEAlS  
AROUND US  
ENdlESS hOURS Of  
WAStEd MOMENts.  
  
'ROUNd ANd 'ROUNd thE MUlbERRY bUSh,   
thE MONkEY ChASEd thE WEASEl.  
  
And then the other three weekly messages we got in that time period were pictures. Well, photographs, really. The first was a collage of numbers, which we soon realized were the numbers of our apartments/houses/what-have-you. Photographs from our actual doors or mailboxes, at that. It's nice to know I'll never be safe. The second photograph was of Preventers Headquarters, towering overhead as if you're standing right in front of it looking up, and then the third is the flag of the Sanc Kingdom.  
  
Maybe I should admit that I have no idea what is going on anymore. We have no leads to go off of, and the weekly mockeries are not helping much. I mentioned at the beginning that pride was our problem, and it still is. We can't comprehend how degrading this is. We're supposed to be the best, and we're failing. Failing hard, but at the moment, nobody is dying. Well, our egoes, but that's only collateral at this point.  
  
Somebody's coming, now, and based on the sound of the footsteps it's Heero and Quatre. They probably have news, whether it's good or bad. I hope it's bad. I can deal with bad right now. If the building's set to explode, I can deal with that. I've faced death before. I've deactivated bombs before. Good news...I don't know what could be considered good news right now. If the killer turned himself in, I don't know how I'd react. That'd be a pretty unclimatic ending. No big showdown, just hands-in-the-air and, "All right, I give up, you win."  
  
When we catch this bastard, I want to be able to laugh in his face./  
  
*~**~*  
  
End Part 8 


	9. Kindness

Title: ZER0 - Part 9 - Kindness  
Author: Vinyl Koneko (Emily), roguegirl@att.net  
Rating: R  
Warnings: language, angst, death, blood, gruesome stuff, yaoi  
Archive: Want it? Take it. Just give me credit, please.  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I just like to play with them and make them play with each other.   
Comments: *Emphasis*, 'thought', [flashback], /written/, //lyrics//. Kindness is the Second Heavenly Virtue and is defined as tender and benevolent affection. I am soooooo sorry that this took forever! I am totally a week behind now! I've been so tired lately with so much to do and it kills your creativity when your muses are working their asses off with research papers. Hope this is good enough!  
  
*~**~*  
  
April 7, 201 AC  
  
*~**~*  
  
Duo put away the electronic organizer[1], slipping the stylus back in its spot, snapping the case, and putting it back in the pocket of his Preventers jacket. He checked the safety on his gun for the last time, secure knowing that it was off and he wouldn't be shooting his own leg off. There was a rapid succession of knocks at the door, and Wufei rapped back. This "code knocking" had been set up a while back, just in case. Duo understood that there was no such thing as too many precautions because at this point they were paid to live, not fighting to die.  
  
Trowa stood and Duo sat up in the plush office chair when Heero and Quatre entered, Duo glad that they were in one piece, despite the solemn expressions. Quatre had a piece of paper in his hand and gave it to Wufei, who read the first couple lines and immediately began to frown.  
  
'Damn it. That *can't* be good.' Wufei handed it to Trowa who scanned the note with a similar expression growing on his features.  
  
"Hey, guys? What's going on? It's not another one of those damn fan letters from our psycho-ass, is it?" Trowa mutely handed it to the former Deathscythe pilot.  
  
/ONCE AGAiN YOU thOUGht thAt YOU hAd PREVAilEd ONlY tO hAVE fAllEN ONCE MORE. i fEEl i hAVE bEEN WAY tOO GENEROUS iN EliMiNAtiNG thOSE PEOPlE fOR YOU, bUt YOU hAd tO GO ANd lOOk A Gift hORSE iN thE MOUth, SO tO SPEAk. i dON't kNOW hOW i MANAGE tO tOlERAtE YOU BOYS, bUt i dO.  
  
ME, bEiNG thE kiNd PERSON thAt i AM, hAVE dECidEd tO lEAVE YOU AlONE fOR thE tiME bEiNG, AlthOUGh i REAliZE thAt YOU Will NOt lEAVE ME AlONE. A littlE QUid PRO QUO SEEMS tO bE tOO MUCh tO ASk NOWAdAYS, dOESN't it? i hAVE tO APOlOGiZE fOR YOUR lACk Of hUMANitY, bUt MAYbE MY OWN hUMANitY Will MAkE UP fOR it.  
  
SO YES, i AM NO lONGER iN PREVENtERS HEAdQUARtERS. SUCh A fiNE EStAbliShMENt. i lOVE thE AURA Of fAlSE SECURitiES it iS ShROUdEd iN. AlMOSt MAkES ME fEEl SAfE. AlMOSt. tEll UNE thAt EVEN thE GREAtESt idEAS hAVE fAilEd. AN AMAtEUR bUIlt thE ARk, bUt PROfESSiONAlS bUilt thE titANiC.  
  
JUSt REMEMbER thAt i AM bEttER thAN All Of YOU. YOU ARE All MURdERERS. i AM A SAViOR. i GEt Rid Of thOSE WhO dON't kNOW ENOUGh tO GEt Rid Of thEMSElVES. YOUR EtERNAl PUNiShMENt Will bE tO GEt bROkEN ON A WhEEl EtERNAllY. i ShAll lAUGh At YOU fROM AbOVE AS YOU bURN.  
  
i thiNk i hAVE tOld YOU ENOUGh. MAY GOd hAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOUl./  
  
Duo threw the note down in disgust. "I am so fucking sick of this...and I think I'm repeating myself at this point, I really do! Not to mention the fact that *now* he's saying he's better than us because he kills with purpose or some shit like that. I am *not* going to let that get to me because *I* am not a wanted criminal, so he better-" Duo stopped all of a sudden when he realized he was being given strange looks from everyone. "What!?"  
  
Quatre looked like he was struggling to keep a grin off his face. "It's just that...well...you're ranting worse than Wufei."  
  
Wufei crossed his arms across his chest, feigning insulted. "And doing a piss-poor job of it, if I do say so myself."  
  
*~**~*  
  
Duo exited the bathroom, changed into a comfortable T-shirt and sweatpants instead of the uncomfortable and confining uniform that the Preventers officers had to where day in and day out. His vision was drawn to Heero sitting on the sofa, laptop sitting on the coffee table with the note beside him. "Yanno Heero, there's no way there's a clue in every little line in that damn thing."  
  
"You of any of us should have recognized the religious references."  
  
"What? 'An amateur built the Ark, but professionals built the Titanic'? I don't even know what the hell the Titanic is!"  
  
Heero pointed at the monitor. "It was a oceanliner back in the early twentieth century that was claimed to be unsinkable yet hit an iceburg and sank, resulting in the death of more than two thousand passengers and crewmen[2]."  
  
"Aw I bet that sucked royally. But what's that have to do with Preventers?"  
  
The Japanese man shrugged. "Maybe he thinks a less professional organization could undermine Une's operation." He handed the note over to Duo. "Maybe you can help with those." Duo looked down at the paper and noticed that some of the sentences were highlighted in yellow.  
  
/i AM A SAViOR./  
  
/YOUR EtERNAl PUNiShMENt Will bE tO GEt bROkEN ON A WhEEl EtERNAllY. i ShAll lAUGh At YOU fROM AbOVE AS YOU bURN./  
  
/MAY GOd hAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOUl./  
  
He shrugged. "Doctor Dement-o thinks we're going to Hell and will be broken on a wheel for all of eternity. He might even think he will 'save' us by cleansing us of our sins, which is funny because if I recall correctly, being broken on a wheel is the punishment for pride."  
  
[/Our pride had been getting the better of us, and that seems to be what the killer wanted./]  
  
"Wait a minute, Heero...cleanse us of our sins..." Duo ticked off each one on his fingers. "Pride, envy..."  
  
[Trowa shrugged in response. "Hero worship, maybe. Besides, what were *you* doing at that age?"]  
  
"...wrath..."  
  
["Paul Lucas was a former OZ official. There are dormant bombs in his refridgerator wrapped in tin foil and freezer bags. According to this log on the computer, he was supposed to blow up Headquarters this afternoon around 1430." Heero looked at his watch. "If it wasn't for our serial killer, the bombs would have just gone off."]  
  
"...sloth..."  
  
[/Shit AddS UP At thE bOttOM/]  
  
"...greed..."  
  
[Duo looked up in time to see Quatre going through all the closets, cabinets, and boxes he could find. "Hey, Duo...why wouldn't she give money to her own children?"  
  
He shrugged. "Anger. Revenge. Or maybe she was a real Scrooge." Duo tilted his head. "Why? What'd you find?" Quatre tossed something in Duo's direction, and he caught it easily, eyes widening at what it was. "Quatre? This is a three inch stack of hundred dollar bills."]  
  
"...gluttony..."  
  
[There had been 113 people in the bar, even though it had a 100 person maximum. Twelve of those who had been killed were employees whether it was the jazz band, the bartenders, or the waitresses. The other 101 people were simply patrons who picked the wrong place at the wrong night, and now all their parts were blown all over the area.]  
  
"...and lust."  
  
[From Duo's reaction, Wufei didn't even look at the body and just recited off the information that had been gathered by the cop who had found the body from the neighbors' complaints of too much noise. The noise had turned out to be gay pornography that was on a repetitive play cycle. It was the last thing the victim saw before he died.  
  
"Victim is 56-year-old David Reeves. We were only able to ID him so quickly because he was on the most-wanted criminal lists for the Alliance, OZ, and the UESN. Reeves was a sexual predator and had been linked to the kidnapping, rape, and death of nearly twenty victims, the majority of which were under the age of seven."]  
  
Heliotropic eyes went wide in realization. "Heero..."  
  
"The victims were killed according to the..."  
  
"...Seven Deadly Sins," Duo finished.  
  
"Demo what contradicts the Seven Dealdy Sins?"  
  
Duo had to think for a moment, going back to days in his childhood that he thought were best forgotten, but they seemed to be life or death at the moment. "The Seven Heavenly Virtues, but... Ah, shit, damn it! I don't remember what they were."  
  
Heero quickly logged onto the Internet, running a search for the Heavenly Virtues, results popping up immediately. He picked a link and waited for the list to load. "Humility, kindness, patience, diligence, liberality, abstinence, and chastity." Prussian eyes shot up from the screen to meet Duo's. "Kindness."  
  
/ME, bEiNG thE kiNd PERSON thAt i AM, hAVE dECidEd tO lEAVE YOU AlONE fOR thE tiME bEiNG, AlthOUGh i REAliZE thAt YOU Will NOt lEAVE ME AlONE./  
  
A chime went off on the laptop, announcing the message of an email.  
  
/VERY GOOd, bOYS. NiCE tO kNOW thAt MY hARd WORk hASN't GONE tO WAStE. MAY i NOW diRECt YOUR AttENtiON tO thE fOllOWiNG AddRESS?  
  
tOGEthER WE StAND StRONG  
48 EMMitt StREEt  
lOWER EASt MANhAttEN[3]  
  
i'll bE SEEiNG YOU tOMORROW./  
  
"This is unbelievable. We're being teased or something, we have to be. This isn't making sense."  
  
Heero shut down the computer, rising slowly and popping stiff joints. "Seriel killers want to be caught, remember?"  
  
Duo wasn't convinced. "Yeah, but this guy thinks what he's doing is all righteous and good."  
  
"Maybe he wants us to decide that for him."  
  
"Yeah, maybe."  
  
Heero moved to stand behind his boyfriend, kissing the base of Duo's neck. "He'll get life if not the death sentence, so you shouldn't worry. We'll catch him. You can't worry that he'll be 'saved' by his God if you don't believe in Him anyway."  
  
Duo leaned back into the embrace. "Hmm, I guess you're right." The American spun around, wrapping his arms around Heero's neck. "Now, do I get something special for finding the pattern?"  
  
Heero smiled suggestively. "We'll see what we can come *up* with."  
  
Duo moaned as his mouth was captured in his Japanese lover's, and any previous doubts were immediately abandoned for the prospect of much more enjoyable activities.  
  
*~**~*  
  
End Part 9  
  
[1] Muhahaha! The earliest placed footnote EVER! Uh, anyway, think PalmPilot or something like that. Or if you're a Star Wars fan, it's a datapad. I had no idea what to call it.  
[2] That was off the top of my head. Please just don't correct me if the figures are wrong. Let me try to feel smart and riddled with useless information for once.  
[3] I know nothing about New York City...been there a few times, but not enough to know how the city is set up and such, so please pretend this is also correct if it isn't. Arigato! 


	10. Patience

Title: ZER0 - Part 10 - Patience  
Author: Vinyl Koneko (Emily), roguegirl@att.net  
Rating: R  
Warnings: language, angst, death, blood, gruesome stuff, yaoi  
Archive: Want it? Take it. Just give me credit, please.  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I just like to play with them and make them play with each other.   
Comments: *Emphasis*, 'thought', [flashback], /written/, //lyrics//. Patience is the Third Heavenly Virtue and is defined as the ability to bear pains or trials calmly and without complaint. Much help from http://saints.catholic.org/patron.html because I can't bullshit the name of a church even if I wanted to.  
  
*~**~*  
  
April 8, 201 AC  
  
*~**~*  
  
Being in charge of this particular assignment, Heero had to go report Duo's revelation about the murder pattern to Une, so Duo and Quatre went out to investigate the location that had shown up in Heero's inbox. Originally they had tried to trace back the IP address the message was coming from, but the sender - who was assumed to be the killer - knew how to cover his tracks very well, so the most likely explanation was the source was a laptop plugged into a public phonejack in a library or someplace similar.  
  
They pulled up at 48 Emmitt Street in Lower East Manhatten, which looked more like a house-turned-business. Or according to the sign out front, support group. Together We Stand Strong's purpose was to help abuse victims heal by sharing their experiences and finding various catharsises with the other members. 'Which will most definitely require a lot of patience, the next virtue we should be following.'  
  
"This would be easier if we knew what the killer looked like," the blond Arab commented.  
  
[Duo looked forward in time to see a man whose face was obstructed behind the bill of a Yankees cap right before plowing into the man.]  
  
["Was there anything distinguishable?" Trowa asked, grabbing a pen and notepad from the conference room table in case there was anything Duo could come up with.  
  
"Um...he was wearing a Yankees cap."  
  
Quatre pinched the bridge of his nose. "Duo...it's New York. *Everyone* wears a Yankees cap!"  
  
The amethyst-eyed American held his hands up defensively. "Hey, don't yell at me, it was all I could distinguish! The hat was covering the guys face! He seemed to be about Wufei's size but with a smaller build, but that's all I can tell you!"]  
  
"Maybe he'll come to us. If not I guess we'll have to ask for a list of people who have ever volunteered here and go through each person one by one."  
  
Quatre shook his head. "I still don't like it."  
  
"I never said I did."  
  
They approached the door carefully, not knowing whether to knock or just let themselves in when a small girl opened the door, her eyes peering through the slight crack.  
  
Quatre crouched down to the girl's level so as not to frighten the little girl, who couldn't have been older than five and looked like she had never seen a stranger before in her life. "Hello. My name's Quatre, and this is my friend Duo. We'd like to ask some questions. Is there someone we could talk to?"  
  
She nodded mutely, scurrying away quickly and shutting the door behind her. About two minutes later a boy came to the door. He looked to be about thirteen or fourteen, and Duo couldn't help to think back on how at that age, he was preparing for war.  
  
"Tanya said that you wanted to ask questions."  
  
"We'd prefer to talk to your parents," Duo said, wondering if the boy would be able to help or if somehow they got the wrong address.  
  
"They're not home. It's going to rain, so if you want to talk, you should come inside."  
  
They nodded in gratitude and followed the boy, whose name turned out to be Lloyd, into the house. It was bigger on the inside than it appeared outwardly, and seemed to have a garage in the back that was used for the support group meetings.  
  
"Do your parents run the support group?" Quatre asked.  
  
"My mom does. My dad pilots for a shipping company so he isn't home a lot."  
  
'Could it be the kids' father?' "Does anybody help your mom run the group?"  
  
"Mr. Weaver comes in a lot. He's quiet and listens really well, so he helps the people that come in, but I don't like him."  
  
Duo's curiosity was piqued. "Really? Why not?"  
  
Lloyd shrugged. "He always smells like raw meat, and one time I think he had blood stains on his clothes and hands, but he said that he was using red clay and it doesn't wash off easily."  
  
Duo looked at Quatre for some sort of confirmation. His friend nodded in agreement. "Red clay can looked like dried blood when it's on your hands and clothing, but it doesn't stain skin and it doesn't dry like a liquid."  
  
The boy didn't look surprised that Mr. Weaver was most likely lying. "It probably would have been smarter for him to say it was ketchup or paint or something."  
  
"Do you have a picture of Mr. Weaver?"  
  
"Yeah, probably. I'll be right back." Lloyd left, leaving Duo and Quatre standing in what looked like a family room. There were books, photographs, and a computer decorating the space. Lloyd came running back with the picture in his hand. "This one was from Christmas. Mr. Weaver's the guy in the middle with the Yankees cap. He always wears that damn thing."  
  
Duo looked up from the photograph, eyes meeting Quatre's immediately. "Do you know where we can find him?"  
  
"Uh...he talks to Mom a lot about some guy named Jerome or something like that."  
  
The name triggered a memory in Duo's mind.  
  
["Saint Jerome Emiliani, watch over all children who are abandoned or unloved. Give us the courage to show them God's love through our care. Help us to lose the chains that keep us from living the life God intended for us. Amen."]  
  
"Thank you for your help, Lloyd. We best be going now," Quatre said, pulling Duo to the door. When the got back in the car and down the street from the house, Duo let out a sigh.  
  
"I think we got him. There's a St. Jerome's House in the Bronx."  
  
"Duo, how do you know this?"  
  
He smiled weakly. "I just do, and let's leave it at that."  
  
*~**~*  
  
"We have a suspect now. All we know so far is that his name is Weaver and we have a recent photo and a couple addresses on where he might be found, but otherwise, we still don't know. There's no real proof that it was him, either, besides the claim of a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old boy that Weaver might have had blood on his hands and clothes." Duo put the photograph down on the conference table, allowing Heero, Trowa, and Wufei to look at it.  
  
Wufei was looking at the image with a deep frown set on his features. "Does this picture coincide with the man you ran into back towards the end of January?"  
  
Duo nodded. "Down to the damn hat."  
  
"We might want to put some agents watching the house in Manhatten because the boy could be putting himself in danger relinquishing that information to us," Quatre added. "It might not follow the pattern, but we can't take any chances at this point. Especially since we've gotten so close now."  
  
"All right." Heero looked at each of the former-pilots pointedly. "Duo and I will check out St. Jerome's House tomorrow afternoon. Quatre and Trowa will go through all of the Weavers in the area and find out which one is ours. Wufei, go get agents from the public safety division out from of the house in Manhatten. Weaver has been out of our grasp for months now. It's time we change that."  
  
*~**~*  
  
"Hey, Heero? Can't you take someone else to St. Jerome's with you instead?"  
  
"You're better with people."  
  
"Yeah, but it makes me nostalgic, and not in a good way."  
  
Heero looked confused, not understanding the connection between St. Jerome's House and Duo's past. "Doushite?"  
  
"It's, ah, well...it's an orphanage, Heero."  
  
"Duo, gomen, demo it is an assignment." He cupped Duo's face between his hands, forcing the American's eyes to his. "You just have to be strong."  
  
Just then, Heero's laptop started to beep, causing him to shoot the computer a deadly glare, which made Duo snort.  
  
"You've got mail."  
  
*~**~*  
  
End Part 10 


	11. Diligence

Title: ZER0 - Part 11 - Diligence  
Author: Vinyl Koneko (Emily), roguegirl@att.net  
Rating: R  
Warnings: language, angst, death, blood, gruesome stuff, yaoi  
Archive: Want it? Take it. Just give me credit, please.  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I just like to play with them and make them play with each other.   
Comments: *Emphasis*, 'thought', [flashback], /written/, //lyrics//. Diligence is the Fourth Heavenly Virtue and is defined as having a persevering application. This part is reeeeally tiny, but I can only type likE thiS for so long before my pinky finger wants to fall off from pressing the Shift key so many times. ^_~  
  
*~**~*  
  
April 8, 201 AC (cont'd)  
  
*~**~*  
  
/ONCE AGAiN YOU hAVE GREAtlY iMPRESSEd ME. MAYbE All iS NOt lOSt fOR YOUR SOUlS. YOUR diliGENCE iS thE MOSt iMPRESSiVE. NOt ONlY hAVE YOU fiGUREd OUt MY MEthOd, bUt WhO i AM, AS WEll. SO, AS YOU MUSt hAVE CONClUdEd, thiS iS thE kEY fOR diliGENCE.  
  
if YOU GO tO thAt AddRESS, YOU Will NOt lEARN ANYthiNG MORE AbOUt ME bESIdES WhAt YOU Will AlREAdY kNOW. CONfUSEd? YOU ShOUld bE.  
  
dON't bOthER EVEN tRYiNG tO tRACE thiS MESSAGE. i kNOW YOU tRiEd thE lASt ONE, ANd All thAt PROVEd tO bE WAS A WAStE Of tiME, GRANtEd it WAS YOURS ANd NOt MiNE.  
  
dON't fEEl likE it'S YOUR dUtY tO PROtECt llOYd ANd tANYA. i WON't GO AftER thEM. thEY'RE GOOd kidS, bEiNG NiCE ANd hElPfUl tO YOU PREVENtERS PEOPlE. lYiNG WOUldN't hAVE kEPt YOU fROM fiNdiNG ME, ANYWAY. AS YOU thiNk iS tYPiCAl AMONG All "killERS" SUCh AS MYSElf, i MUSt WANt tO bE CAUGht. thAt, UNfORtUNAtElY, iS NOt tRUE. i'M JUSt tRYiNG tO PROVE A lESSON, ANd YOU bOYS ARE SUCh EAGER StUdENtS.  
  
thiS, SAdlY, Will bE thE lASt MESSAGE YOU RECEiVE fROM ME. i hOPE thAt YOU SAVEd thEM All tO USE AGAiNSt ME iN COURt. thE NEXt tiME YOU hEAR fROM ME, WE Will MEEt fACE-tO-fACE ANd i Will PRObAblY bE REAd MY RIGhtS ANd bROUGht tO thE tEMPORARY dEtENtiON fACilitY iN thE bASEMENt lEVEl Of PREVENtERS hEAdQUARtERS. it'S REASSURiNG thAt if hQ GEtS bOMbEd, thE CRiMiNAlS Will hAVE bEttER OddS Of SURViViNG thAN thE AGENtS.  
  
SO kEEP hARd At WORk, ANd YOUR diliGENCE ShAll ONlY bE REWARdEd iN thE ENd./  
  
*~**~*  
  
End Part 11 


	12. Liberality

Title: ZER0 - Part 12 - Liberality  
Author: Vinyl Koneko (Emily), roguegirl@att.net  
Rating: R  
Warnings: language, angst, death, blood, gruesome stuff, yaoi  
Archive: Want it? Take it. Just give me credit, please.  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I just like to play with them and make them play with each other.   
Comments: *Emphasis*, 'thought', [flashback], /written/, //lyrics//. Liberality is the Fifth Heavenly Virtue and is defined as the state of being generous.  
  
*~**~*  
  
April 9, 201 AC  
  
*~**~*  
  
St. Jerome's House looked like every other orphanage Duo had ever come across: run down and disturbingly overcrowded. The bricks were crumbling, the elaborate stained glass windows dull from the layers of dust encrusting the surface. What once was a lush green lawn now was mostly dirt with several clumps of brown, sharp grass, but despite its decrepit state, Duo could hear the laughter ringing inside and out.  
  
"You all right?"  
  
Duo blinked. "Aa..." He hadn't realized Heero was waiting for him, casting uncertain glances to where Duo remained seated in the passenger seat. "I'm coming." Duo could see several small faces peaking through the frosted glass panes of the doors, trying to see who was visiting.  
  
The door got pushed open, a little boy no more than five trying to be braver than his peers by going out to meet the strangers himself. 'He looks like a cherub,' Duo couldn't help but notice.  
  
"Hi!" he called cheerily, waving his pudgy hands in Duo and Heero's direction. "What you want?"  
  
"Are there any adults we could talk to?" Heero asked, hands on his hips. Duo noticed the boy's eyes widening when he caught gaze of the standard issue pistol below Heero's right hand, and Duo moved himself to stand in front of Heero to block the child's view, making sure that his own was out of sight. The boy nodded mutely, features still alarmed as he ran back inside, calling for a name Duo couldn't decipher.  
  
"He's afraid of us," Duo commented. "Saw your gun and got scared."  
  
Heero looked dubious. "He isn't old enough to be a war orphan."  
  
Duo shrugged. "This is New York; he could've witnessed his parents killed in an armed robbery or anything dealing with drugs."  
  
["Hi, my name's Duo. What's yours?"  
  
The girl had her arms wrapped tightly around her body, brown eyes a constant image of fear and sorrow. "It's Danni." She turned into the light, and Duo had to bite his tongue to keep impassive about the burn scars marring half of Danni's face, keeping her left eye swelled shut.]  
  
Duo hadn't understood at the time, but Danni's family had been in the middle of a battle. They were coming out of a store when it started, and a stray grenade killed both her parents and nearly her, as well. Duo had heard Father Maxwell and Sister Helen talking about it. She was found by the same soldiers that killed her parents, and before bringing her to the church they took advantage of her. Danni had been too paralyzed by shock and fear to do anything about it.  
  
"Can I help you?" a woman in her mid-thirties came out, several children flocking behind her.  
  
"We hope so," Duo remarked, "but preferably away from the kids."   
  
She nodded, whispering to one of the older children who sheparded the others back inside. When they were out of hearing range, the woman turned her attention to the two agents, mouth set in a grim line. "Jack said you might be looking for him."  
  
"Jack...Weaver?"  
  
She nodded. "He said Preventers were going to come after him for the murders, but he's given so much to us; I don't see how he could be convicted of such things."  
  
Duo caught Heero rolling his eyes and couldn't help but smirk. "He thinks he's becoming a saint by ridding the world of its sinners. Liberality, in this case."  
  
"We just have evidence pointing to Mr. Weaver," Duo added. "If it turns out to be someone else, he will be let go."  
  
"Justice needs to be served. If he stays free, more children will end up here." Duo couldn't help but wince at Heero's frankness. "People won't need to be afraid."  
  
Duo could tell from the woman's expression that she understood, but still didn't look too happy with the responsibility that was put on her shoulders. "Jack is usually at a bar downtown around this time...called Vinny's on the corner of 1st and 3rd Street."  
  
Heero nodded briefly, Duo managing to mouth a quick 'thank you' before they left, speeding away to a bar called Vinny's, hoping they weren't too late.  
  
*~**~*  
  
End Part 12 


	13. Abstinence

Title: ZER0 - Part 13 - Abstinence  
Author: Vinyl Koneko (Emily), roguegirl@att.net  
Rating: R  
Warnings: language, angst, death, blood, gruesome stuff, yaoi  
Archive: Want it? Take it. Just give me credit, please.  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I just like to play with them and make them play with each other.   
Comments: *Emphasis*, 'thought', [flashback], /written/, //lyrics//. Abstinence is the Sixth Heavenly Virtue and is defined as not indulging voluntarily in food or drink.  
  
*~**~*  
  
April 9, 201 AC (cont'd)  
  
*~**~*  
  
Duo knew they'd be wasting time in traffic, so he took the time to call headquarters and get in touch with whoever could give the authorization for the arrest. He managed to get ahold of Une, which was good for them because it meant not only would she tell Wufei, Quatre, and Trowa directly, but it also meant that she'd make sure the other three agents got to Vinny's as quickly as possible. Duo kept switching the safety of his gun on and off, wondering how Heero could keep his cool about the whole situation. Jack Weaver was going down, and his reign as a "savior" along with him. Sure enough, by the time they got to Vinny's, Quatre and Wufei were waiting outside in an unmarked vehicle. Duo ran out to see what was going on.  
  
"Yo, guys, where's Trowa?"  
  
"Inside scouting out the situation," Wufei responded. Just moments later, the former pilot of Heavyarms walked over to the car, seating himself in the back.   
  
"Weaver's inside; he's the only patron that is still sober. It looks like he's waiting for us."  
  
Quatre pointed to a screen on the console. "As far as we can tell, he's unarmed, as well."  
  
Duo clapped his hands together. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"  
  
"I got a message from Weaver through the bartender," Wufei sounded nervous. "He'll come with us willingly after he talks to you, Duo, and only you."  
  
The American looked to his lover, getting mixed messages from the Prussian blue depths. 'Heero wants me to go if it'll see Weaver come along willingly, but he doesn't want to risk me being put in the hands of an extremely capable killer.' Duo swallowed, weighing his options. "Well... It looks like I have to go in then, doesn't it?"  
  
"Duo!" He spun on his heel, turning to meet Heero's gaze. "Be careful. Don't do anything brash."  
  
Duo smirked. "Roger."  
  
Vinny's had the atmosphere of any other local bar. The thick clouds of cigarette smoke clogged your pores and just breathing in the air made you feel drunk and high all at the same time. He spotted a lone figure seated at a booth in the far, back corner, nursing a glass of water with a wedge of lemon and a bowl of beernuts. 'Weaver...' Duo's gaze narrowed, his expression becoming one of business; all formal joviality hidden when confronted with the killer.  
  
"Sit down, Agent Maxwell, or may I call you Duo?"  
  
"Whatever floats your boat, Weaver; before long you won't be my problem anymore but the state of New York's."  
  
"Touche. You're really going to convict me?"  
  
"Damn straight I'm convicting you! All that purification shit might led you plead on temporary insanity, but if your punishment is time in a loony bin I'll personally make sure you are dead long before your release back into society."  
  
"As a Catholic man I thought you'd understand."  
  
Duo scoffed. "You think I'm a fucking Catholic? Is that why you've been after me personally for all this time?"  
  
"During the war you dressed like a priest. You wear a cross around your neck and even took your name after the church you spent some time in."  
  
"You're full of shit. Nearly two hundred people have died at your hands, and you think I'm going to understand as a Catholic? First off, I'm not religious; I did what I did to honor the memory of people who died. Second, *no* true Catholic would believe your cause because it's still murder no matter how you look at it!"  
  
Weaver frowned. "The Crusades. The Spanish Inquisition. Hitler's regime. I'm not the only one to ever feel this way. It's been historically documented time and time again that the only way to cleanse the world is to get rid of those who don't believe in Christ as our savior."  
  
Duo couldn't help but laugh. "You're fucking insane."  
  
"You were supposed to understand, and now you're mocking me."  
  
The braided man shrugged. "I'm doing a little more than mocking you." He stood, and faster than Weaver could follow, Duo had him pinned against the wall and was cuffing his arms behind his back. "Jack Weaver, you are under arrest for the deliberate murder of one hundred and seventy-seven individuals. Please remain calm or I'll be forced to take further precautions in order to ensure your compliance."  
  
As Duo lead Weaver out, several snippets of conversation could be caught from the other patrons in the bar. Blue flashing lights outside announced the arrival of a squad car, and a lieutenant eagerly took Weaver out of Duo's hands. The American approached his friends with a broad smile on his features.  
  
"The easy part is over; all we have to do now is make sure that bastard gets what's coming to him."  
  
*~**~*  
  
End Part 13 


	14. Chastity

Title: ZER0 - Part 14 - Chastity  
Author: Vinyl Koneko (Emily), roguegirl@att.net  
Rating: R  
Warnings: language, angst, death, blood, gruesome stuff, yaoi  
Archive: Want it? Take it. Just give me credit, please.  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I just like to play with them and make them play with each other.   
Comments: *Emphasis*, 'thought', [flashback]. Chastity is the Seventh Heavenly Virtue and is defined as the refraining from unlawful sexual intercourse.  
  
*~**~*  
  
/So now things are more or less over. Weaver got the death sentence and is being put on death row once he transfers out of the nearest prison. His lawyer, predictibly, went for the plea of temporary insanity, but between myself, Heero, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, and Une, we were able to prove his guilt threefold. The lawyer knew he was fighting a losing battle and just had Weaver plead guilty in the hope that he would get a lighter sentence, but the jury wouldn't see it otherwise.  
  
He had a wife and daughter, apparently, but they were killed by OZ soldiers when a falling Aries landed on their home. Since then, Weaver became addicted to the Christian religion and later saw following the Seven Deadly Sins as the best way to get rid of all the sinners - sinners like the men who were responsible for destroying his family.  
  
When the prosecuting lawyer asked Weaver if he ever had plans to kill Lloyd, Tanya, or any of the children at St. Jerome's, he ended up in tears saying how he could never hurt a child because it would hold him in the same place as those that killed his daughter, Chastity. He had only been able to bring himself to kill the women because they either deserved it or were collateral.  
  
I'm glad attending the trial farther than my testimony wasn't mandatory because the whole setup made me sick to my stomach. Weaver seriously thought he'd be a free man when the ordeal was over.  
  
For our hard work, we were awarded three months of leave time with pay. I told Une I could kiss her and she told me that if I did she'd sue on sexual harassment. I know she was joking, but I still need to find a way to express my gratitude.  
  
Quatre's plan for keeping him and Trowa close pulled through. He's now only the CEO of WEI for morale purposes within the company. One of his sisters wanted it so much more than he did, and Quatre felt he needed to help clean up the mess he made during the war. Preventers is the place we have all found that.  
  
Heero and I are taking advantage of our vacation to the fullest. We each had quite the sum of money squirreled away from what we'd taken from OZ, and we aren't going to go off and buy mansions and Porsches with it, so a cruise really is the next best thing. It gives us lots of alone time, and it really is nice to be together without worrying about getting called off on an assignment or whatever else Une could have us doing. I mean, we're still stuck in the same office together, but I highly doubt the desks would be able to support both of our weight, so we'll just have to take advantage of every moment we get together here, currently in the middle of the Mediterranean.  
  
All things considered it wasn't a bad assignment. Once again we're basically being held as heroes, but there are some things you can't avoid in life, and that's one of them. Maybe it'll let any other psychopaths out there know that Preventers will catch him, so he better not try anything as long as we're around.  
  
I can hear Heero calling me in the other room, and I'm not going to keep him waiting. Until the next assignment.  
  
--Duo Maxwell, May 27, 201 AC/  
  
*~**~*  
  
Owari 


End file.
